Rulin Waishi and Cultural Transformation in Late Imperial China 0674010957, 9780674010956

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Rulin Waishi and Cultural Transformation in Late Imperial China
 0674010957, 9780674010956

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Rulin waishi and Cultural Transformation in Late Im perial China

HARVARD-YENCHING INSTITUTE M O NO G R APH SERIES 59

Rulin waishi and Cultural Transformation in Late Imperial China

Sh an g W e i

Published by the Harvard University Asia Center for the Harvard-Yenching Institute and distributed by Harvard University Press Cambridge (Massachusetts) and London, 2003

(c) 2003 by the President and Fellow s o f H arvard College

P rin ted in th e U n ited States o f A m erica

T h e H arvard -Y en ch in g Institute, founded in 1928 and headquartered ac H a rva rd U niversity, is a foundation dedicated to che advancem ent ofh igh er education in che hum anities and social sci­ ences in Ease and Southeast A sia. T h e Institute supports advanced research at H arvard by fac­ ulty m em bers o f certain A sia n universities and doctoral studies at H arvard and other universi­ ties b y jun ior faculty ac the sam e universities. Ic aiso supports E ast A sian studies ac H arvard chrough contributions to che H arvard-Y en ch in g Library and publication o f the Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies and books on prem odern E ast A sian history and literature.

Sh an g, W ei. R ulin w aishi and cultural transform ation 111 late im perial C h in a / Sh an g W ei. p. cm . ,- (H arvard -Y en ch in g Institute M onograph serie s; 59) Includes bibliographic references and index. is b n

1.

0*674-01095-7 (cloth : alk. paper) W u , Jin gzi, 17 0 1-17 5 4 . R u lin wai shi. 2. Confucianism in literature. 3.

C on fucian ism- - R itu als. 4. C h in a —Intellectual \ i k - 1 6 4 4 - 1 s 1 2 . 1. T id e . II. Series. PL2732.U22R837 2003 8 9 5 .i'34 8 -d c2 i

Index b y the author

© P rin ted on acid-firee paper

L ast num ber below indicates year o f this printing 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03

2003044972

T o X in

Acknowledgments

T h is book has gradually grown into its present shape. It was intended co be a comprehensive study o f Rulin waishi (T h e unofficial history o f the schol­ ars), an eighteenth-century landmark o f rhe lirerati novel, buc since the novel is deeply em bedded in the intellectual and licerary discourses o f its cime, I have had to grapple with the m id-Q ing debates over ritual and ritualism, the construction o f history, narrative, and lyricism. M y research reveals Rulin waisht as both a product and a powerful response by a Confucian intellectual to cultural transform ation in late imperial C h in a 一 transform ation char eventually brought to an end the Confucian w orld order. A s such, W u Jin gzi’s (17 0 1-5 4 ) ironic portrait o f literati and their predicaments provides a unique perspective on a number o f issues essential to che contem porary aca­ demic disputes over eighteenth-century culture and intellectual discourse: W h y did ritual itself become a problem in a Confucian society presumably guided by ritualistic norms? W h y did Confucian reformers conceive o f evi­ dential scholarship as rhe most effective means for reversing the discursive trend o f So n g and M in g N eo-C onfucian orthodoxy and restoring the tex­ tual integrity o f the Confucian classics? Sim ply puc, w hy did che problem o f "history” become such a fundam ental concern for Chinese intellectuals o f the timef A n d w h y and how did the vernacular novel become an im portant medium for them co voice social criticism and moral consciousness^ In my study o f Rulm waishi, I seek to answer these questions through intensive his­ torical research on the intellectual and literary trends o f the mid-eighceench

Acknowledgments

century as well as through a close reading o f the novel itself. I will argue thac W u Jin g z is search for alternatives from within the Confucian tradition and his relentless self-questioning in Rwlm waishi represent a new height o f m oral im agination in late imperial C hina. I am indebted to many people for aid in the research and w riting o f this book. First o f all, I thank Patrick H anan for his support and guidance throughout various stages o f research and writing, and Stephen O w en for his insights and inspirations. M y thanks are also due Ellen W idm er, Joanna H an d lin Sm ith, R obert Ashm ore, Sophie V olpp, R oger H art, Rania H u m ingron, Feng X ian g ;and W an g Yuejin, w ho read part o f the earlier version o f this book and suggested many useful changes. I am especially graceful to D avid D er-w ei W an g for his insigheful comments on che manuscript, and to H aru o Shirane and T o m i Suzuki for cheir consistent support. Paul A nderer w ent through rhe m anuscript w ith care and offered suggestions for several m ajor changes; R obert H ym es and D orothy K o made thoughtful com m ents on the Introduction, w hich helped to clarify my presentation o f Confucian ritual. D u rin g che final stages, the manuscript received a careful reading from D avid Rolston, whose expert comments have strengthened it in both argu­ m ent and presentation. Judith Z eitlin sent me comments on Part IV . A n ­ thony Y u generously shared with me his ideas on this and m y other projects. T heodore H uters, W ilt Idema, and two anonymous readers o f the H arvard U niversity Asian C enter offered m any suggestions for expanding che scope o f the m anuscript. I thank them for all their generous help. F o r fellow ship and sabbatical support in the early stage o f research for this book, as well as in che later stages o f writing it, I thank the H arvardY enching Institute and che C hiang Ching-kuo Foundarion. Parts o f this study have been presented at rhe U niversity o f W ashington in Seattle, che U niversity o f Pennsylvania, C olum bia University, H arvard U niversity, B ei­ jin g U niversity, Yangzhou N o rm al University, and the A nnual M eeting o f the Association for A sian Studies in W ashington, D .C , I appreciate rhe support o f David. Knechtges, C . T , H sia, V icto r M air, Lydia L iu ;Qianshen Bai, Stephen W est, W ai-yee Li, Peter Bol, K ang-i Sun C hang, M adeleine Z elin , and K eith M cM ahon, w ith whom I have discussed this project. Chen M eilin and L i H an qiu have been very responsive to m y letters concerning Rulin waishi and other related subjects. M y appreciation also goes to W u G e o f Fudan U niversity Library, w ho sent me a photocopy o f the title page o f the 1803 edition o f Ruim waishi, and to Z h o u W eipei and L i Zhongm ing,

Ackno w l e d e n ts

w ho went an extra mile to provide me wirh photographs o f N an jin g local gazetteers. I thank K o Ch'ing-m ing and C hang Shu-hsiang for conversations on lyricism, w hich led me co write the Epilogue. W an g H u i deserves a. spe­ cial acknowledgm ent for sharing wich me his studies o f che intellectual his­ tory o f the k re imperial era. A s always, I am greatly indebted to Y u an X ingpei and Lin Geng, m y teachers at Beijing University, for nurturing m y interest in Chinese literature and providing guidance for m y studies o f m e­ dieval Chinese poetry. T h e ir encouragement has long been a source o f inspi­ ration for me. M y thanks also go to Leslie K riesel for a careful editing o f the m anu­ script; Jo h n Z iem er has done m ore chan expected, o f an editor by providing comm ents on both the presentation and che contents o f the manuscript. T h e ir editing has spared me o f m any errors and improved the m anuscript in various ways* M y special thanks are due C hen W eigang, with whom I have discussed this and ocher projects. I was inspired, by his vision and insights at every stage o f writing, and his friendship and. encouragement have been a. m ajor factor in the com pletion o f this book. Finally, and most deeply, I am indebted to my wife, X in , for her understanding and unfailing support. T o her this book is dedicated. A portion o f P art I, “R itu al and the C risis o f the Confucian W orld/* first appeared as 'Ritual, R itu al M anuals, and the Crisis o f the Confucian W o rld : A n Interpretation o f Rulin W aishi" Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 58, no. 2 (1998): 373-4 24, and is reprinted here with permission o f the editors. S .W .



Contents

Introduction Iconoclasm or Ritualism 4 /

The Paradox oj the Literati Novel 7 /

Interprctatwn and Cultural Codes n /

Sel/-

Ascetic Versus Dualistic Ritual: The

Confucian Imagination m Rulin waishi 1 4 /

Iw Search of a Normative

Order Beyond Normative History: Cultural Transformation Reinterpreted 16 / In Search of Moral Imagination Beyond Authoritative Narrative: The Literati Novel Redefined 17

Part I Ritual and the Crisis o f the Confucian World 1

23

Confucian R itual M anuals, rhe Y an -L i School, and Rulin waishi The Taibo Ceremony and Confucian Ritual Manuals 3 0 / School:Ritual Versus Discourse 3 6 /

The Yan-Li

Rulin waishi and Yan-Li Discourse

44

2 T h e T aib o Tem ple: Ascecic V ersus Narrative Ritual Filial Guo: Ascetic Here in Action 5 3 / Dualistic System of Li 6 2 /

Narrative Ritual 5 8 /

Ascetic Ritual 7 2 /

The

Filial Guo's Final

Confession: A Moment of Disillusionment 78

3

T h e D estruction o f the T aib o T em ple :Ascecic R irual in Crisis From Jtexuw Shnne to Taibo Temple 8 5 / Ritual and Symbolic Power 1 0 0 /

Marketplace: A Redemption of Elite Culture?

Conclusion to Parc I

Retbinkmg Ascetic Ritual 9 2 /

From Collapsed Temple to Imagined 10 5

xii

Contents

Part I I Beyond Official History 4

121

H isto ry and T im e: Z h e n g sh i A s Represented in R u lin w a ish i

133

Beyond the Exem plary Biography 133/ Secular T im e, Secular H istory 145/ Past, Present, and Retrospective Comments 148 5

Atem poraliry, Closure, and Ascetic Ricual

156

Ascetic R itual and T im e 156/ T he Problem o f F in a l Judgm ent 161 171

Conclusion to Part II Part I II Narrative and Cultural Transformation

173

6 Ru/m waishi, the V ernacular N ovel, and che N arrator The Longsan Episode 188 /

179

T he Formation o j Common Discourse [91/

T he N arrator and Common Discourse 195 7

205

Parody and the Suspension o f H istory O ld Texts, N e w W orlds: A M isguided T r ip 205/

W ho Is Quan

W uyong? 213/ The Swordsm an A s N arrator 216 221

C onclusion to Parr III Part I V The Taibo Myth and Its Dilemma: Redefining the Literati Novel

229 231

8 T h e T aib o M ^th and the Problem o f N arrative Taibo W orship: Between Fiction and Action 233/ T h e Taibo M yth, Suprem e Virtue, and Absolute Truth 240/

丁be N arrative

o f the Taibo

M yth and Its P aradox 244 9 M oral Im agination and Self-Reflexivity Stories o f Y ielding 255/

丁emple,

Is!仍 i

25 斗 265

Conclusion co P art I V

279

Epilogue: Rulin waishi and Literati N ostalgia for the Lyrical W orld

285

A ppendix: T e x ts and A uthorship o f Rulin waishi

3〇7

Editions oj"Rulin waishi 308/ Inconsistencies, Errors, and the Problems o f O pen-Ended N arrative 315

Contents

xiii

R eferen ce M a tte r B ib lio g ra p h y

323

C h a ra c ter L is t

339

In d ex

347

Rulin waishi and Cultural Transformation in Late Imperial China

Introduction

Rulin waishi (T h e unofficial history o f the scholars) is a familiar w ork to readers o f the prem odern Chinese novel. Com posed by W u Jin gzi (17 0 1-5 4 ) during che last two decades o f his life, ic is, in che estimation o f many com ­ mentators, one o f the highest achievements o f the Chinese novel, on the same level as the contem porary Honglou meng (D ream o f che red cham ber or T h e story o f che scone).1 A n ironic portrait o f literati life, Ruim wahbi was unprecedented in offering a comprehensive display o f the degeneration o f literati mores, the predicament o f official inscitutions, and the Confucian elites futile struggle to reassert m oral and cultural authority. A s a refined piece o f artistic elaboration and narrative innovation, ir also introduced a model o f che novel rhac has inspired and intrigued many since ics publication in 1803. R«!i« wai$hi's prominent place in premodern Chinese literarure is attrib­ utable largely to its status as che culmination o f the Literati novel. From the sixteenth century, as the literati experienced increasing division and fragmencation as a social group, they became more interested in che vernacular

1.

F o r an English translation, see The Scholars, trans. Y a n g H sien -yi and G lad ys Y a n g . I

use this translation w ith certain m odifications. F or the Chinese edition o f Kulin waishi, I use L i H an q iu , edv

•” wai;hiu huijiao huiping ben. Follow ing other scholars o f prem odern C h i­

nese literature, I use the w ord “noveV’ to describe long narrative stories, prim arily fictional and 121 m ost cases written in the vernacular o f rhe time and divided into m ultiple chapters. T h e Chinese term xiaoshuo covers a w ider range o f narracive genres than does novel."

i

Introduction

novel, despite its non-elite stacus and popular stance; cheir editing o f inher­ ited narrative materials, as well as commentaries on them, provided rhe elite w ith a m edium for social com m ent and self-expression. C ritics have long noted rhat literati authors and com m entators o f the sixteenth and seven­ teenth centuries placed a crucial role in the transform ation o f the vernacular novel. H ow ever, ic was noc until the eighteenth century that chis process reached a new stage, as can be seen in an array o f w orks: L ii X io n g s (ca. 16 斗 2 -17 2 3 ) Nuxian waisbi (T h e unofficial hisrory o f the female immortal), W u Jin gzi’s Rwlin waishi, C ao X ueqin's (1715^-63) The Story of the Stone, Li B aichu ans (ca. 17 2 1-7 1) Luye xianzong (T racks o f an im m ortal on the green field), X ia Jin g q a s (170 5-8 7) Yesou puyan (H um b le words o f an o ld rustic), L i Lu yuan’s (17 0 7 -9 0 ) Qilu deng (W arn in g light at the crossroads), and T u S h e n s (17 4 4 -18 0 1) Yinshi (T h e history o f che bookw orm ).2 T h ese novels do not form a subgenre or conform to a single narrative mode, but they do share certain features that indicate rhe emergence o f a new kind, o f social perception and a new mode o f literary production. A ll were w ritten by individual literati authors for a literati audience) and all deal with literati concerns, m ore often than not w ith an exquisite display o f che autobiographical.3 Follow ing the lead o f a handful o f predecessors in the seventeenth century, che eighceenth-century literati novelists greatly changed the w ay the vernacular novel was created, circulated, and received. R ather chan caking advantage o f commercial publishing, chey often allowed cheir w orks co be transm itted in m anuscript form and so generated a sense o f com m unality through interaction with their immediate readers.4 A s a

2. U n like the other novels in rhis list, Yinshi is w ritten prim arily in classical C hinese. T o this list one m ight w ell add L i R u z h e a s (i76 3-i830 r>) Jinghuayuan (Flow ers in the m irror), a w ork Li began w riting in rh eJasr decade o frh eeigh reeiirh century but did not com plete until 1815. 3. U nlike such earlier novels as San'^uo yanyi (T h e rom ance o f the T h re e K in gd om s) and Shuihu zhuan (T h e water m argin), w hich are derived from both history and folk literature and have undergone revision by m ore than one hand, each o f these eighteenth-century novels is the product ot an individual author. R ather than relying on oral or written sources o f history and folk literature about historical personages and heroic adventures, each novel draw s on its au­ thor's own erudition, experience, and im agination. A lth ou g h in rhe previous tw o centuries, lite­ rati authors and editors had found various w ays o f addressing their concerns th rough che form o f the vernacular novel, it was only du rin grh e eighteenth century that uhe literari asserted them ­ selves as both au iliors and subjects; their novels o f self-representation dem onstrate an elite learning and sensibility that tend to preclude readership by che less-educated classes.

4 - A s show n in d ie cases o f Rulin waishi and The Story of the Stone, com posing such a novel required a long-term , even a lifelong, devotion; it hardly brought the literati novelisr any fi-

Introduction

3

result, each novelist form ed around him self a small circle o f readers, which might overlap with ocher circles. Scattered and limited as rhese groups were, they did produce a discourse in the form s o f a vernacular novel and fiction com mentaries on it that were closely engaged w ith the intellectual concerns o f che time and often drew on rhe repository o f literati learning, especially ricualism and che evidential scholarship o f ancient texts and insri•

tunons.

5

T h e literati novels helped to shape the licerary and intellectual landscape o f late imperial China. A m on g the questions this development raises are

n an d al gain or advanced his official career, if he had one. G enerally speaking, rhese lirerari novels w ere written and circulated outside the official w orld and the m arketplace. T h e y do noc constitute pare o f official w riting, nor are the^ com m ercial productioas. It should be noted that in earlier periods, such literaci as Feng M en glon g (15 7 4 -16 4 6 ) and L i Y u (1613-80) did becom e w hat m ight be called professional w riters or editors. T h e y w rote and edited liter­ ary texts for the m arket and were even involved in com m ercial publishing. B u t chis was no longer tru e o f m ost o f the eighteenth-century literati novelisrs, w hose w orks were often pu b ­ lished posthum ously, as in rhe case o f Rulin waishi, The Story of the Stone, Humble Words of an Old Rustic, and Warning Lt^ot at the Crossroads, A lth ou g h the vernacular novel as a genre was still not com m only held in high esteem during the eighteenth century, literati novels often generated greac enthusiasm am ong specific literati groups. T h e y were usually transm itted am ong a small circle o f the a u th o rs friends and acquaintances in handw ritten form , and they often elicited im m ediate responses and com m ents, som e o f w hich w ere in turn reflected in the a u th o rs revised version. A lth ou g h published in 1711, The Unofficial History of the Female Immor­ tal, w hich w as probably the first vernacular nov^el entitled 2 waishi, was never truly popular. B u r L ii X io n g , a m an o f letters who drifted from one secretarial jo b co another in provincial and district governm ent, managed, to assem ble com m ents on his m anuscript (and prefaces to it as well) from m ore rhan sixty literati o f rhe tim e, including such leading inceUectuals, play­ w rights, and artists as W a n g Sh izh en (16 3 4 -17 11), H o n g S h en g (16 4 5 -17 0 4 ), and Z h u D a (16 2 4 -17 0 5 ). A lth ou gh these com m entators cam e txom. ditferenc regions and m ay noc have know n one another, rhe earliest prin ted edition o f the novel brought them together and con­ jured up an im agined com m unity o f literati readers. W u Jin g z i did not go as far as L ii X io n g in pro m o tin g his novel, bur he found his own w ay o f engaging his circle o f literati friends in N an jin g: not only did he re-create h im self in the novel and m odel som e m ajor characters on his friends, lie also shared his m anuscript w ith chose friends. Like Rulin waishi, C ao X ueqin's The Story o f the Stone drew on his ow n experience. H e also circulated his m anuscript am ong his relatives and intim ate friends, w ho were fam iliar w ith its references. O ccasionally, h e had to revise his m anuscript to accom m odate their objections. 5.

Several eighreench-cenrur^ novels, as scholars have noticed, are che produces o f interac­

tion w ith the intellectual ethos o f the regions in w hich they were w ritten; see R o d d y, Literati Identity and Its Fictional Representation; and W a n g Q iongling, Qfngdai si da caixue xiaoshuo. A d o p tin g L u X u n 's characterization o f som e Q in g dynasr^ literati novelists 2s using the xiaoshuo form to show o ff their learning, scholars have often used che term " scholarly novel" co designate chese w orks; see L a X u n , Zhongguo xiaoshuo shilue, pp. 29 4-96.

4

Introduction

W h a t accounts for the literates increasing enthusiasm for w riting ^tnd read­ ing these novels? D oes this enthusiasm indicate a conscious efforc by literati to evoke an im agined com m unity o f critical discourse outside the official world? I f so, w hy did the literati novelists forgo commercial publication^ W h a t constitutes the bases and sources o f cheir social and cultural criticism, and how far does cheir critical discourse go, given their alleged loyalty to Confucian tenets^ I f literad authors were interested m erely in recovering their m oral and cultural hegemon 卜 how can we explain the ironic stance that often characterizes their works? M y aim is to contribute to our understanding o f chese issues chrough a close reading o f Rulin waishi. T o put m y analysis into perspective, I begin w ith recent discussions o f che culcural transform ation o f lace im perial China.

Iconoclasm or Ritualism Eighteenth-century C h in a was sandwiched becween two mom entous ages: rhe M anchu conquest and che western impact. T h e latter took place amid internal turm oil 一 the crum bling o f the Confucian elite and che disintegra­ tion o f local society— thac signaled the decline o f che Q ing empire (16 4 4 1911) and the beginning o f the m odern era. A lthough the M anchu conquest is o f less historical consequence, che fall o f the M ing (1368-1644) was the cause o f much soul-searching by the Chinese literati in che second h alf o f the seventeenth century, and it continued to stim ulate critical reflection throughout rhe rest o f the dynasty. Such reflection led the literati co con­ front w hat they perceived as the main threat to Chinese society 一 the de­ cline o f the Confucian w orld order. A lthough che intellectual discourse and practice o f the eighteenth cencuiy can be seen, in various wa^s, as reactions to che late M in g crisis, chey set che stage for an even greater crisis in che nineteenth century. H istorians rem ind us thac the eighteenth cencury should not be approached in isolation; we m ust ask whether the eighteenth century witnessed any social and cultural changes with significant conse­ quences. I f so, what were those consequences, and did they indicate any potential crises? D uring the eighteenth century, the literati as a social group experienced an unprecedented degree o f division and fragmentation, much o f ic due to the increasing compecicion for positions in the bureaucracy, che continuous grow th o f the merchant class and urban mobility, and whac Benjam in Elm an has called the professionalization o f academics. A ccording co Elm an, in che

Introduction

5

early and high Q ing periods, this resulted in the form ation o f an academic com m unity in che Low er Yangtze region (that is, Jiangnan, with its cultural and political center in N an jing, where W u Jin gzi lived and w rote Rulin wai­ sbi). W ith financial support from merchants and others, scholars devoted themselves to philological studies rather than to che established career paths o f governm ent service or m oral education. T h e ir uonofficial status allowed them to develop empirical m ethods o f exact scholarship— a new scholarly discourse that raised doubts about the em pirically unverifiable ideas chat had pervaded So n g (960-1279) and M in g dynasty interpretations o f classical C onfucianism . In an extensive survey o f the eighteenth-century academic com m unity o f the Jiangnan region and itrs discourse o f evidential scholarship, Elm an provides new insights into the professionalization o f che academ y and the revolutioriary m tu te o f evidential discourse. H e has argued thac even b e­ fore Chinese society was subject co fundamencal crisis and the western im ­ pact, “the dram a o f literati disenchantm ent wich the imperial orthodoxy had already climaxed in che eighteenth century/'6 E lm an s approach illuminates certain aspects o f the changes in eighteenth-cenrury lirerati culture, buc beneath his analytical paradigm lie W eberian concepts o f m odern knowledge and. scholarship. W h a t Elm an de­ scribes as che professionalization o f academia in eighceench-cencury China seems to echo W e b e rs accounc o f rhe social and cultural transition o f the W e st into che modern era,7 In fact, ac the beginning o f From Philosophy to Phi^ lolo^y, Elm an reveals his modernise agenda by com paring the eighceenthcencury evidential scholars to hum anists o f the European Renaissance such as V alla and Erasm us. "Like their European counterparts,” he says, "Q ing dynasty philologists favored linguistic clarity, simplicity^ and purity. T h is endeavor led them to expose inconsistencies in contem porary beliefs and form s o f expression.'* In this sense, boch che European and che Chinese phi­ lologists were "scholarly iconoclasts/"3 A n d che predominance o f philology in eighreench-cencur^ intellectual discourse should be regarded as a movemenc that shook the foundation o f the Confucian belief system. A lthough not all m odern scholars w ho acknowledge rhe revolutionary nature o f evidential studies adopt a comparative approach, cheir im plicit ap­ plication o f western models co eighceenth-century C hina brings us to the all-

6. Elman, From Philosophy to Philology, p. xix. Max Weber, "Science as a Vocation/'

7.

8. E lm an , From Philosophy to Philology, p. 3.

6

Introduction

too-fam iliar debate over modernity.9 T h e problem with the m odernist ac­ count o f Chinese intellectual life in che late im perial era is its tendency ro overstate che case o f eighteench-cencury evidential scholarship, which pre­ vents us from recognizing one o f the m ost striking and significant aspects o f literati discourse o f that period 一 its paradoxical com bination o f cultural iconoclasm w ith Confucian revivalism. T h is is where K ai-w ing C h o w ’s T he Rtse o f Confucian Ritualism in L ate Im ­ perial China seems especially relevant. Like Elm an, C h ow concentrates on eighteenth-century intellectual discourse and practice, but his conclusions are starkly different. W hereas Elm an sees eighceench-century evidential scholarship as posing a challenge to the authority o f the Confucian classics, C h o w regards it prim arily as a revival and a fresh development o f rhe C o n fu ­ cian tradition in general and So n g N eo-C onfucianism in particular. Focus­ ing on w hat he calls the Confucian ritualism o f the eighteenth century, he calls attention to the liceracis commitment: to a specific Confucian vision o f society based on ancient ritual and institutions. According to him, che philo­ logical studies o f the Confucian texts, which gathered m om entum in the mi»J-eighceench century, were aimed ar rediscovering che authentic rituals and institutions o f the ancient sages. In his analysis, Confucian ricualism and. evidential scholarship were interconnected, driven by a com m on vision. T h e ir actual im pact on socieiy was manifested in rhe local gentry's efforr to strengthen the lineage system and re-establish themselves as intellectual, moral, and social leaders o f local society. C h o w ’s argum ent brings into focus a phenomenon o f vital im portance co our understanding o f eighteenth-century intelleccua.1 life: philologists and ritualists belonged, by and large, to the same literati group. T h is is puzzling because it reveals a seemingly paradoxical correlation between philological iconoclasm and Confucian fundamentalism. Apparently the more effectively

9.

L ian g Q ichao (1873-1927) once w ent so far as to claim that the evidential studies o f the

Q ian lon g (1736 -9 5) and Jia q in g (179 6 -18 20 ) reigns bore such a striking resemblance to the m ethodologies o f m odern western science rhar they slioald be appropriately called Scientific classicism ” (kcxue dc^udian xuepai); see L ian g Q ichao, Zhon^uojin sanbai nian xuesbu shi, p. 22. T h e questions chat need to be asked are W h y should the pattern o f know ledge and science in the m odern W e st serve as a pattern for our account o f C h in ese learning and scholarships D id C h in a have co follow the route charted b y the W e st in order to be "tnodern'? T o quote C ra ig C lun as in his study o f Ch in ese prin t culture, our concern should be co ^casc doubt 011 the uni­ linear and exclusionary nature o f rhe argum ents deployed for the single destination o f m odernity” (Pictures and Visuality in 'Early Modern China, p. 3a).

Introduction

7

the scholars undermined che integrity and authenticity o f the Confucian cexcs, the more devoted they became Co the ritualistic order those texts prescribed. C h o w is well aware o f this paradox, which he attem pts to resolve by de­ scribing the eighteenth-century philologists as Confucian purisrs comm itted to recovering the original shape o f the ancient texts and validating thac basis for Confucianism . H ow ever, even if chis is accurate, the results o f their evi­ dential studies often pointed m che opposite direction. Indeed, whatever cheir intentions might have been, the eighteenth-cencury philologists often ended up revealing che complex cexcual history o f the ancient docum ents and casting doubt on che authenticicy o f texts endorsed by rhe So n g N eo-C onfucians as Confucian classics.10 C h o w ’s srud^ raises an unavoidable question: I f the scholastic goal o f che early and m id-Q ing was to revive So n g N eoC onfucianism , how could scholars have hoped to accomplish this by challeng­ ing the historical authenticity and textual integrity o f the very classics upon which the moral authority o f Confucianism and, in particular, o f N eoC onfucianism had been built? In addition, we may question C h ow ’s view o f early and m id-Q ing intellectual tendencies as a return to So n g N eoConfucianism , because m any ritualists and scholars o f evidential studies o f the time were know n for their opposition ro N eo-C onfucianism , and che oriencarions and practices o f eighreenrh-centur^ evidential scholarship and chose o f So n g N eo-C on fu cian philosophical discourse were unm israkably different.

T h e Paradox o f the Literati N ovel Scholarship has revealed the tension present in che novels and short stories o f che M in g and Q ing, a tension thac also appears in che inrellectual dis­ course o f the periods. Critics have chosen to emphasize either the ironic or

10.

T h e best exam ple o f incellectuaJ skepticism is to be found in Y a n R u o ju s (16 3 6 -17 0 4 )

questioning o f the authenticity o f the O ld T e x t chapters o f the Documents (Cuwen shangsbu), w hich had long been considered one o f che C on fucian classics. Y a n ’s w ork, com pleted in the late sevem eenrh cenrury, generated a heated debate am ong rhe scholars o f rhe rim e and started a new trend in scholarly criticism . A s E lm an points ouc, "T h e m ovem ent to retrieve the past durin g rhe C h ’ing period w as not a conscious current o f skepticism . In th e long run, however, the k'ao-chcn^ (evidential studies) identity rhac developed v/011 brearhing space for both skeptical and pious C onfucians. In this w ay, evidential scholars advanced the front o f objectivity and the cause o f u n b clie r (From Philosophy to Pbiiology, p. ja). See also Y u Yin gshi, "Som e Prelim inary O bservations on the R ise o f C h ’ing C on fucian InreJlectualism ." O n the continuation and developm ent o f evidential studies in twentieth-centLiry C h in a, see Sch n ei­ der, Ku Chieh-kang and China's New History, pp. 19 5-ao o .

8

Introduction

the m oralistic veins in fiction— or che uneasy blend o f both within che same work. T h e coexistence (and paradoxical combinacion) o f iconoclasm wich Confucian moralization translated into a pattern o f narrative representation in which che parody or ironic portrayal o f Confucian society became insepa­ rable from irrepressible aspirations for moral norms and a Confucian order. In em phasizing the role o f the literati in revising narrative materials from an earlier popular tradition, A n d rew Plaks has characcerized the four great M in g novels—- X iyouji (Jou rney co the west), San'^uo yanyi (T h e romance o f T h ree K ingdom s), Suibu zbuan (T h e water margin), and Jin Ping M ei (T h e plum in che golden vase)— as literati novels. Focusing on che sixceenthcentury editions o f these works, he identifies cwo characteristics as essential co che genre: an ironic devaluation o f che surface meaning o f the text and a deep melding o f ideas based on N eo-C onfucianism .

In any event, the point here is not co deny or diminish che serious dimension of Buddhist and Taoist thought in these books, only co restore the centrality of bed­ rock ConFucian concepts within che consceliacion of ideas at che heart of late Ming literati culture, despite che fashion ac che time of professing distaste for stodgy Con­ fucian moralizing and che free use of un-Confucian terms of discourse appropriated from che otrher "schools."11 H ow ever, whether and ro what extent these four works can be created as literati novels and connected to N eo-C onfucianism remains debatable. Plaks’s statem ent seems only to confirm the paradox o f late M in g literati culture: it highlights the tension between che conflicting impulses toward irony and N eo-C onfucian m oralizing thac he discerns in these novels. I f irony tended co devalue explicit didactic pronouncements, why w ould it stop short o f undercutting the concepts o f N eo-C onfucianism , however deeply em bedded they might have been? Parrick H anan, in his studies o f sevenceench-century short stories, cap­ tures this tension by depicting the contrast between *the puritanical m oralist and che bohemian man o f letters, each o f w hom satirized the other unm erci­ fully .,,12 A n d indeed, each type o f writer drove the other ro the extreme. Lace M ing and early Q ing bohemians went to unprecedented lengths in debunk-

[i. 11.

Plaks, Four Masterworks o j the M ing Novel, p.

501.

B y 'puritanical m oralists,,r P atrick H an an (Chinese Vernacular Story, p. 164) refers co

writers such as Langxian, Z h o u J i (che author o f Xihu erji), and M aster G u k u an g (the author o f Z u i xin^ shi), whereas the bohem ian men o f letters include A in a (rhe author o f Doupe*i^ xianhua), L i Y u , and others.

Introduction

g

ing cultural heroes, attacking old virtues, and blaspheming, whereas the pu­ ritanical moralises o f the time single-mindedly advocated m oral fanaticism and self-abnegation. T h ere was no ground for reconciliation or negotiation. T h e literati novels o f rhe eighteenth century attem pt co absorb these con­ flicting forces into cheir narrative dynamics. Alchough these novels do noc share a com mon m ode o f representation, their depiction o f the literati world and o f society at large is often characterized by a serious, conservative C o n ­ fucian tone. A n d yec irony constantly creeps in, with the free play o f intellect tual fancy, wic, and hum orous observation that produces caricature. In an e f­ fort ro understand rhe orienrations o f these novels, critics have usually turned co works o f intellectual history for guidance, Buc as shown above, the intellectual history o f the early and m id-Q ing often points in tw o opposite directions. Som e critics tend ro detect the conservative vein in these novels; others see signs o f a crisis o f literati identity, a lack o f episcemological cer­ tainty, a dw indling o f interest in Song and M in g N ecvC onfucian ideas o f sagehood and self-cultivation, and a decline o f the N eo-C onfucian mode o f thinking. In Literati Identity and Its Fictional Representations in Late Imperial China, Stephen Roddy, basing h im self partly on Elm an 、 arguments, explains: Compared to che confidence that Song choughc manifests in che power o f humans to comprehend cosmic truths, chen, a very profound sense o f epistemoiogicaJ uncer­ tainty pervades the literature and thought o f the eighteenth cencury. No longer was a knowledge o f echical principle believed to provide a conscanc and secure touchstone for the multifarious occupations in which the literati engaged.. . . Hence, che unity and synthetic homogeneity of che Song view o f humanity gave way co views chat ac­ knowledged the plurality and diversity o f aJl-under-heaven, both human and natural, and indeed manifested an a c u te awareness of anomaly, division,and limits.13 In analyses such as this, the eighceench-century scholarly discourse o f evi­ dential studies, as understood by Elm an and others, offers a prism through which to perceive the intellectual orientation o f the literati novels o f che time. Rulin waishi seems to crystallize the internal tension o f the literati novels by combining an ironic edge wich a moralizing vigor, going much further in both respects chan most contem porary novels. Follow ing either tendency re­ sults in a different approach to rhe novel. H ow ever, even those who recog­ nize in Rulin waishi the conservative brand o f Confucianism can hardly miss the irony. A s C .

丁.

H sia has noted, "The Scholars was the first satiric novel

13. R o d d y, Literati Identity anti Its Fictional Representations, p. 20,

io

Introduction

consciously written from che Confucian poinc o f view. Buc unlike the kind o f Confucian heroism endorsed in historical novels, its Confucianism is tinged w ith m elancholy over che futility o f governm ent action or social reform.” Stressing che novels ironic anatom y o f che Confucian elite, M ay Fourth and M arxist scholars, however, have identified Rwlm waishi as a broad attack on Confucian ideology, the literati ethos, and official inscitudons, o f which the civil service examination system was a key part.15 In this reading, the T aib o ceremony, che only accomplishm ent o f che literati characters in che novel, fails ro convey a positive message, since ic is so ineffectual (and so ineffectu­ ally presented) as co suggest a parody. T hese scholars adm it chat W u Jingzi srill seemed ro adhere ro what they call an our-of-da re Confucian ideal, but they attribute the novels success ro rhe trium ph o f realism, which they be­ lieve to be its main impetus. w ard i f judged

W u Jin g z is worldview is undeniably back­

M arxist standards. T h u s, it is realism chat enabled Rulin

waishi co yield ironic, critical insights beyond che lim its o f W u ’s own con­ scious thoughr.17 A n d these insights, M ay Fourth and M arxist critics argue, anticipated ro some extent such modern concepts as hum anism (rendao zbuyi). In this way, they manage to incorporate Rulin waishi into cheir celeo logical account o f Chinese m odernity. M arscon Anderson, well aware o f the picfalls o f either o f chese approaches, argues that ic is im possible co pin down

14- C . T . H sia , The C/assic Chinese N o vel p- 209. 15. H u S h i, ’‘W u Jin gzi zhuan,” in idem, H u Shi £udta» wenxue yanjiu lunji, 2: 10 6 0 -6 4 ; Q ian X u an to n g, '"Rulin waishi xinxu"; C h en D uxiu, "RmJim waishi xinxu." 16. See H e Q ifan g, "W u Jin gzi de xiaoshuo R«lm waishi," pp. 90, 97; and Bai D un , "W u Jin g z i chuangzuo sixiang chutan/’ pp. 34:1-4317. T h is approach derives from Frederick Engels's rem arks about Balzac. In a letter to M argaret H arkn ess w ritten in 1888, Engels said: 'Balzac was politically a Legitim ist; his great w ork is a constant elegy 011 die irretrievable decay o f good society; his sym pathies are all wich th e class doom ed to exnnction. B u t for all that his satyre is never keener, his irony never [m ore] bitter tiu n when he sets in m otion [lie very men a.nd w om en wich w hom he sym pa­ thises m osc deeply— the nobles. . . . T h a t Balzac thus was com pelled to go against his own ciass sym pathies and political prejudices, thar lie saw che necessirp o f the dow nfall o f his favo r­ ite nobles, and described them as people deserving no better fate; and thac lie saw rhe real men o f che future where, for che tim e being, they alone were ro be fo un d — thar I consider one o f th e greatest rrium phs o f R ealism , and one o f d ie grandest features in old Balzac” (Baxandall and M oraw ski, Karl M a rx and Frederick Engels on Literature and Art, pp. 116 -17 ). H ow ever, scholars w ho apply Engels’s com m ents in their interpretarion o f Rulin waishi seem ro m ake no effort co be m ore specific. Sin ce M arxism regards "realism" as its favorite m ethod o f novelistic creation, the argum ent seems co be applicable to every novelist o f the past, and hence inappli­ cable to any particular one.

Introduction

Rulin tvaisbi's organizing ideology, because, as is apparent in its episodes about filial piety, it "both reaffirm s the value o f a fundamental Confucian virtue and questions the social consequences o f its reification as an abstract ideaJ/'18 For A nderson, ’’this is w hy seekers o f ideological consistency in the novel w ill in­ evitably be disappointed/’19 R ather than offering an answer, this reading o f Rulin waisbi returns us co the central question perplexing historians; indeed, it forces us co re-examine the relationship between the ironic and che m oralizing tendencies in the intellectual culture o f the eighteenth cenruiy.

Self-Interpretation and Cultural Codes A t the heart o f che cultural and. intellectual transform ation o f eighteenthcentury C hina lies the rivalry between Confucian ritualism and Song N eoConfucianism . Ir is a commonplace chat when ritualism came to dominate che Chinese intellectual landscape in the earl^ and m id-Q ing( Confucian ritualists, such as Y a n Y u an (1635-1704 ) and L i G on g (1659-1733), openly challenged che auchoricy o f So n g and M in g N eo-C onfucianism — che socalled Learning o f Principle (lixuc) and Learning o f M in d (xinxuc)— and at­ tributed the deepening crisis o f che Confucian social and moral order to "em pty ralk" and "introspective meditation." T h e y styled themselves Confucian fundamentaliscs, because they demanded nothing less than an im m edi­ ate recurn to rhe ancient Confucian teaching o f ricual (li), which they be­ lieved had long since been lost to Song and M in g N eo-C onfucianism . It is crucial to note that the two major approaches to che M ing-Q ing cul­ tural transform ation— the modernise and the traditionalist— reveal an in­ sufficient understanding o f the conflict between ritualism and N eoC onfucianism . Boch approaches are based on che com m on assum ption that there is one and only one Confucianism . T h e ir m ajor difference lies in their explanations o f irs status in che intellectual life o f lare imperial C hina (and, by implication, in the lirerati novels o f che period). F or che modernises, C o n ­ fucianism is the target o f both evidential scholarship and parodic narrative. T h e cradicionaliscs, however, insist chac Confucianism is precisely the hid­ den objective behind the philology and rhe lirerati novels and is therefore what makes cheir social criticism possible. N eith er approach pays enough at­ tention to the increasing internal divisions w ithin Confucianism during the

18. M arsto n A n derson , "T h e Scorp ion in the Scholar's C ap/' p. 275. 19. Ibid.

Introduction

eighteenth century and che emergence o f a Confucian consciousness capable o f reflecting on its own inherent limits and dilemmas. Su ch a m onistic conception o f Confucianism is justifiable from one point o f view, for there is, as C h ow has convincingly dem onstrated, a notable paradox in the ritual discourse o f che late seventeenth and eighteenth centu­ ries. O n che one hand, the literati tended to identify rhe late M in g crisis as a crisis o f the Confucian social and ritualistic order; on the other, they insisted thac che only effective solution lay in Confiacian ritual. W orkin g within che existing fram ew ork o f concepts and generalizations, chese self-styled ritual­ ists were unable co develop a vocabulary with which tro grasp whac w as at stake in their own experience and thought. Ironically, for all their stubborn opposition to N eo-C onfucianism , they were so deeply immersed in a tradi­ tional rhecoric about ritual chat they often seem to actually reaffirm the sym bolic order that they so loudly rejected* N onetheless, the ritualists’ failure to conceptualize their opposition to N eo-C onfucianism does not mean that their efforts to distinguish between it and cheir ritualism reflected m erely philosophical pretensions. W e need co ask W h y did ritual become such a central issue in che literaci's discussion o f che crisis o f the Confucian world? H o w did they distinguish cheir ritual from the old ritual, which was presum ably in great disorder, supposing the two types w ere indeed different? A n d what, after all, was ritual? It is here that the relationship becween literary studies and intellectual history becomes o f vital importance. T h e impact o f Confucian ritualism on the m aking o f the literati novels has long been noted, but the prevailing perspec­ tive is noc w ithout ics own blind spot. C ritics often look co intellectual history for answers to questions arising from literary studies and sometimes even for the questions themselves. T h e core o f their interpretive exercise consists o f rwo implicit assumptions: first, that philosophical arguments hold rhe k ey co the explication o f the basic issues o f Confucian ritual; and second, chac narra­ tive production occupied only a peripheral role in contem porary thought, that it was a mere footnote co formal, philosophical discourse. B oth assumptions are mechodologically flawed ;for the simple reason that they display little sensitivity to che limits o f the history o f ideas; because che history o f ideas focuses mainly on the participants* self-interpretation, it risks losing a sense o f the larger system o f values and meanings in w hich che^ partake. T h e intellectual shifts o f lace im perial C hina, I argue, provide a com pelling case for che fruitfulness o f cultural analysis as proposed by C lif­

Introduction

13

ford G eerrz and others,20 for a "thick description” o f che literati novels tells us m ore abour the predicament o f Confucian discourse and ritualists’ strug­ gle than does the theoretical discourse o f the day.21 It is in this respect that w e can better appreciate the values o f Rulin waishi O f all che eighteenth-cencury novelises, W u Jin gzi was che one most engaged with issues o f contem porary intellectual discourse. A s an active m em ber o f a literati circle in N anjing, he participated in the ongoing discussion o f C o n fu ­ cian classics and rituals. H is novel traverses a broad range o f subjects: the functions o f the civil service examination and the lineage system o f local so­ ciety, the rise o f rhe merchant class, the decline o f the literacis m oral prestige and personal integrity (degraded by hypocrisy, bad faith, unrestrained com ­ petition for fame and status), and che permanent discrepancy between w ord and deed, name and reality, appearance and substance in rhe literati’s sociopolicical lives. It was W u Jingzi's am bition to integrate all these issues into a dynamic critical reflection on che predicam ent o f Confucian ritual or h. A nd Rulin waishi is p ro o f that he triumphed. W ith Confucian ritual as its central concern, Rulin waishi is the focal point at which intellectual and literary undertakings converge. T h is is nor to say that it can be read as a literary w ork advocating ritualism. Rather, ics ca­ pacity for critical reflection comes co define che virtue o f vernacular narracive. In his novel, W u Jingzi suggested a subtler vision o f hum an existence and social practice than m ost ritualists were prepared co accept. D elving inco lireratis everyday lives, he mapped out a broad discursive horizon against which to interpret and examine rhe ritualists’ agendas. M ore specifically, his narra­ tive exposes the crisis o f the Confucian w orld at a much deeper level chan rhac know n to ritualists like Y an Yuan , Ir also offers a vantage from w hich to see borh che redeeming values o f Confucian ritual, which the ritualists might or m ight not see and conceptualize for themselves, and the limits and con­ tradictions o f their conceptualization, w hich chey themselves certainly failed ro recognize and articulate. T hese were profound insights, and W u Jingzi came to them with an originality o f perspective and intuition rhat eluded alm ost all o f his contem poraries. In exploring alternatives from within the Confucian tradition, he illuminated how far an insiders critique o f C o n fu ­ cianism could go even before C h in a was exposed to the western challenge.

20. Se e G e ertz , The Interpretation of Cultures. n . F o r an explanation o f the term 'th ick description,” see ibid., pp. 6 -10 .

14

Introduction

Ascetic Versus Dualistic Ritual: T h e Confucian Imagination in R u lin w a ish i W u ’s m ost original contribution ro the cultural and intellectual transform a­ tion o f the tim e is his construction o f two types o f Confucian ritual. "D ualis­ ric ritual" claims to be the source o f ultimate value and significance, as well as che legitimate means o f enforcing sociopolitical order in terms o f hierarchy, status, and authority. In contrast, "ascetic ritu a r regards severing ritual's link wich rhe political w orld as a necessary stage in achieving its own autonom y and leaves no room for negotiation in ritualistic practice. T h e first thirty chapters o f Rulin waishi portray the literatis pursuit o f ca­ reer, fame, riches, and rank (gong mingfu gui) as reaching the point o f insan­ ity. Ironically, che Confucian rituals become a legitimate and hence conve­ nient instrum ent for this pursuit. In the name o f upholding the codes o f Confucian ethics, the literati stage endless Confucian fam ily rituals, but only to secure their own advantage in the struggle for power and property. H ere W u Jin g zi depicted che crisis o f w hat can be called che dualistic system o f the Confucian ritual. D ualistic ritual finds che sacred in che m undane w orld and serves both sym bolic and practical functions. T h e w orld o f ritual is a norm ative order within which social hierarchy is described in terms o f duties, responsibilities, moral obligations, and ulcimarel^ the cosm ic order o f heaven and earth. B u t this normative order is also che source o f political power and the status quo, and its operation is closely bound up wich social exchange, negotiation, and political maneuvering. Confucian fam ily ritual, for example, constitutes the core o f the Confucian sym bolic order, but at the same time it fulfills mundane functions in determ ining rhe control and distribution o f socioeconom ic resources. H o w does dualisric ritual cope with, if noc resolve, ics internal tensions^ Such a system inevitably generates ambiguities in the perception o f specific ritualistic behavior, for whether such behavior accords wich the norms o f ritual depends to a large extent on who perceives it and how ic is perceived. T h e Confucian practitioners o f dualistic ritual try co envision a w orld in w hich che cosm ic/m oral order expresses icself directly in the policical/social order. T h e y do nor think that they live in such a world, but they attem pt to create it through discourse. Dualistic ritual is thus inseparable from C o n fu ­ cian discourse: ic is, by nature, narrative or discursive; ic has co rely on che privileged narrator, who is none other than the Confucian sage himself, to

Introduction

15

secure its semantic certainty, to ensure the sincerity and purity o f its agents* intentions, and, finally, to reduce if noc eliminate the possibility o f alterna­ tive interpretations. T h e success o f Confucian narrative discourse depends on its ability to translate its m oral vision into concrete practice and trans­ form reality according to its self-incerprecacion. Ideally, i f one perceives the w orld through the model o f Confucian discourse or represents thac dis­ course through action, it w ill appear as a sacred Confucian com m unity in perfect harm ony with the order o f heaven and earch. In the first thirty chapters o f Rulin waishi, W u Jin gzi depicts a w orld in w hich che ideological function o f Confucian discourse is exposed and moral rhetoric loses the enchanting power o f persuasion needed to sustain dualistic ricual. D espire cheir verbal com m itm ent co the m oral vision o f a Confucian com m unity, the ricual organizers and participants are show n to be capable o f calculating gains and losses through the m anipulation o f Confucian ritual, Confucian rhetoric never succeeds in persuading them co commie to any com m on values or com m on interests, nor does it help them perceive their re­ lationship in terms o f m utual respect and reciprocal obligation. T h e dualistic system of/t falls apart; it is sacred in w ord but mundane in practice. T h e inscicutionalized discrepancy berween w ord and deed and between name and reality conscicuces the main source o f irony in chis pare o f the n o v e l W u Jin gzi shows chat che contem porary literatis lack o f faith in C o n ­ fucian rhetoric did not prevent them from taking advantage o f ic through the deliberate manipulation o f Confucian language. A cting in a dram a o f im per­ sonation, they claimed to be the spokesmen for Confucian sages and m o­ nopolize the role o f the privileged narrator in declaring rhe purir^ o f cheir in ­ tentions as they proceed to tell stories about their own

ritualistic

com mitments. A master o f irony, W u Jin gzi elucidates che ways in which the lireraci used Confucian rhecoric ro ju stify their worldly gains and bargain for their own best interests: they com prom ised the ricual codes for their own desires and represented, themselves as spokesmen o f C onfucian principle in order to claim a m oral authority, which could easily be converted co rheir own political and economic benefit. A s such, W u Jin gzi brought into view the w orst aspects o f dualistic ritual, for ic was the unificarion o f the sacred and che m undane within it that facilitated constant verbal negotiation wich, and consequently the compromise o£ rhe ritualistic obligations. W u s representation o f the T aib o ceremony in C hapter 37 evokes a vision o f the ascetic ritual o f action, which is consequent upon the dualistic, narra.-

i6

Introduction

cive ritual in producing a different way o f conceiving virtue, value, and rhe Confucian world. T h e episode o f the T aib o ceremony consists o f two major m otifs: first, withdraw al from the mundane sociopolitical order to escape a dualistic w orld o f li chat is hopelessly caught up in irony; and second, the re­ placement o f discourse w ith practice, since discourse, as seen in che first thirty chapters o f the novel, not only produces endless comprom ises in C o n ­ fucian ricual obligations but also becomes itself a legitimate tool co negotiate for political benefits and moral rewards. B ased on Confucian fam ily ethics, the ascecic ritual goes m uch further both in conceptualization and in practice. Its underlying logic accounts for the series o f fanatical attem pts in the second h alf o f the novel to fulfill C o n ­ fucian fam ily obligations at the cost o f sociopolitical duties. T h is extreme behavior is meant to correct the situational ethics o f the dualistic, narrative ricual, in which ritual codes are reduced co em pty rhetoric or freely inter­ preted. In seeking a w ay ouc o f che predicam ent o f narrative [i, W u Jin gzi seems, however, to have deliberately pushed Confucianism to its limits by m aking its core echical values inco absolute ritual imperatives. W ithin che context o f prem odern inrellectual discourse, this absolutist urge indicates che extent to w hich a Confucianist could travel in seeking alternatives from w ithin the Confucian legacies. Ic also produces its own dilemmas, which W u Jin gzi had to deal w ith in the second h a lf o f the novel.

In Search o f a N orm ative Order Beyond N orm ative History: Cultural Transformation Reinterpreted W u s account o f dualistic and ascecic rituals sheds new light on one o f the fiindamencal divisions between Confucian ritualism and orthodox N eoConfucianism : rhe latter seeks co establish and reinforce the Confucian norm through interpretation and discourse, whereas the form er insists on che central role o f ritualistic practice in che making o f Confucianism . T h e is­ sue o f history, I shall argue, is essential ro such divisions. Ic has long been recognized chat official hiscoriograph^ placed a decisive role in the construction and reproduction o f the orthodox Confucian w orld order. T h e dualistic system o f It is, by ics nature, narrative. Ic provides a m odel by which to perceive and measure the world o f reality. Ic also de­ m ands to be translated into reality through sim ulated practice. T h is is where history comes in. N arrative rirual is history-oriented; ic draws on the C on facian historical texts and che words o f che ancient sages as the ultimate source

Introduction

17

o f significance and also as normative models for reproduction. It was through historical accounts o f the exem plary deeds o f sages and cultural he­ roes rhat che N eo-C onfucian moral imagination found a w ay to inspire com m on discourse and penetrate the w orld o f daily life. From the ritualists' perspective, however, the N eo-C onfucians,heavy in­ vestment in discourse and history paved che way for rheir ultimate downfall. W u Jin gzi, in his critical response to whac he saw as the deflation o f N eoConfucian discourse, conjured up ascetic ritual as an alternative vision. S im i­ larly, the ritualists o f the early and m id-Q ing period became so disenchanted wich che texcual construction o f Confucian history that they felt compelled to define a new ground, for the practice o f Confucianism . A n d philological evidential scholarship offered a convenient tool with w hich co undercut the textual bases o f N eo-C onfucian discourse and question che crurh-claims o f normative history. A t che intersection o f ricualism and evidential study lies che iconoclastic Confucianism that loom ed so large in the culcural and intel­ lectual transform ation o f eighteench-cenrury C hina.

In Search o f M oral Imagination Beyond Authoritative N arrative: T h e L ite rati N ovel Redefined A s a literary genre, rhe vernacular novel has a close affinity with official his­ tory; ic draws so often on that authoritative narrative that ic becomes, so co speak, an extension and transform ation o f official history in the popular imagination. H ow ever, its folklore origin and vernacular form relegated it to perm anent unofficial or nonofficial scarus, as shown by such appellations as waishi (literally, “outer” or "other history”) or yesbi and baishi ("unofficial hiscoty” or "inform al history”). W u Jin gzi and his contem porary licerad novel­ ists often took the nonofficial position o f che vernacular novel as the starting point o f rheir own narrative. B y calling his novel a waishi, W u defined for h im self an outsider s position from w hich to examine the motife, concepts, and narrative models derived from normative history. In this sense, his con­ cept o f waishi is fundam ental co the cracfirion o f rhe literati novel he helped establish. Ir w as through a critical reflection on historical narrative and irs ramifications in the vernacular novel that W u Jin gzi developed his own novel as an alternative mode o f m oral imagination. Rulin waishis deconstruction o f the normative narracive o f official history can be taken literally. Alchough it is by no means a historical novel, ir follows the M in g chronology from its founding in 1368 to the W an li reign (1573-

i8

Introduction

】 620),

the period o f its ultimate decline. R ather than confirm ing the narra­

tive found in the official Mingshi (H istory o f the M ing), W u Jin gzi offered a retrospective account o f che corruption o f che literati ethos and che resulting destruction o f the empire, and his novel becomes itself an ahiscorical attempt co redress the literaci's failure co redeem the lost tradition and vanished em ­ pire. A similar tendency can be seen in The Unofficial History o f the Female Immortal o f the earl^ eighteenth century, w hich presents a councerfactual ac­ count o f how the Yongle usurpacion might have been put right and che le­ gitim acy o f the M ing empire restored. Unlike earlier historical novels, which often provide an extended or supplem entary version o f zhengshi (official or orthodox history), the two waishi opened up a critical space outside or be­ yon d official history. H ow ever, in che case o f

waishi, rhe qualiry o f waishi runs even deeper

inro the text and its narrative mode. W u Jin gzi sought to challenge not so much the accuracy and credibility o f official history as its auchoricacive mode o f narrative and irs prescribed normative function. Essential to official his­ tory are irs recurrent motifs, its highly regulated biographical form, and the w ay it valorizes the pasr and shapes reality. T h ese features deeply affect che vernacular novel by furnishing a standardized mode o f perception and con­ ceptualization and form an integral part o f its generic convencions. W u Jingzi was n ot rhe first to camper with rhe established narrative form s o f history and the vernacular novel, but he certainly went much fu r­ ther chan his predecessors in questioning cheir validity. In Rulin waishi, che inherited mode o f historical narrative and biographical form are shown to be inadequate for m aking sense o f che world; che cexcual models o f the past be­ com e either irrelevant or misleading, and the w ords o f historical figures and cultural heroes are relegated co rhe level o f mere text, deprived o f cheir puta­ tive funcrion in the reproduction o f the Confucian norms and the transfor­ m ation o f reality. B y dem onstrating a rupture in the discursive w orld o f his­ torical representation, Rulin waishi seems to recapitulate the potencial orientation o f che philological studies o f the time, albeit on its own terms and in its own fashion. W u Jingzi's questioning o f the authority o f historical narrative does not lead to cynicism and nihilism; instead, it constitutes an integral part o f his effort to reconstruct Confucian norms. T h is helps to distinguish Rulin waishi and perhaps ocher eighteenth-century literati novels from che w orks o f the seventeench-cencury iconoclasts, w ho celebrated the breakdown o f che N eo-

Introduction

19

Confucian sym bolic order. T h e eighteench-cencury liceraci novelists, by con­ trast, sought to build their m oral imagination on che ruins o f cKe savaged narrative and discursive world. And. W u Jingzi wenc further than any o f his contem poraries by suggesting a new Confucian vision o f the ritualized w orld based on che absolute norms o f ascetic practice. N o r did this moralistic impulse lead W u close co the puritanical m oral­ ists o f the seventeenth century- N o c only was he much m ore innovative and imaginative chan m osr o f them, buc also his m oralizing unfolded in a dy­ namic process o f critical inquiry inseparable from skepticism and self­ questioning. Indeed, he was more keenly aware than anyone else o f the lim i­ tations o f his own vision o f ascetic Confucian ritualism. Instead o f locking him self into a dogm atic position, he subjected ritualism to testing from al­ ternative perspectives. In so doing, he did m ore than explore the critical function o f vernacular narrative; he turned Rulin waisbi into a critical m e­ dium chat relies on relentless seif-scrutiny co sustain ics moral imagination. T h is study o f Rwlm waishi consists o f five parrs. Parr I focuses on the subject o f ritual. Rulin waisbi engages in a dynamic process o f reflecrion on the di­ lemma o f C onfucian ritual; ic proceeds from discrediting the dualistic ritual o f narracive (C hapters 2 -30 ) to exposing the problematic o f the ascecic ricual o f action (C hapters 31-55). A n exam ination o f this process sheds new light on che interconnectedness o f various parts o f the novel by revealing che un­ derlying logic despite some apparent disjunctions or contradictions. I begin by identifying the generic code and textual source o f W u Jin gzi’s representa­ tion o f che T aib o ceremony in C hapter 37 for tw o reasons: it defines a start­ ing point for m y inrerpretacion o f Rulin waisbi, and it links che novel to the contemporary discourse and practice o f Confucian ritualism. Tracin g che dynamic process by which Rulin waishi explores che theme o f Confucian li, P art I divides roughly inco rwo sections. T h e first section ex­ amines dualistic ricual and its relation co narracive discourse. M y purpose is to show thac rather chan denouncing dualistic ritual in general and abstract terms, W u Jin gzi disclosed che secrets o f ics w orking as well as its ultimate disintegracion. Dualistic ritual facilitates an exchange between symbolic and political resources and thus enables the literati characters co disguise their self-inccresred m otivation with Confucian rhetoric or cheir gains by their exercise o f m oral discourse. T h is section shows the danger o f Confucian ritual receding into unending verbal articulation, interprecacion, and negotiation,

Introduction

becom ing nothing more chan pure ficcion contingent on sociopolitical forces and utilirarian demands. T h e second section shifts the focus to Rulin waishi's construction o f che ascetic ritual o f accion. Th ro ugh a close reading o f a se­ ries o f stories in the second h alf o f che novel, I illustrate W u Jingzi's attempt ro rest the limits o f ascetic rirual in asserting its absolute imperative. I argue thac W u ’s construction o f ascetic ritual displays a profound insight inco an alternative vision o f Confucian li and its potential problematic, while giving the novel a critical edge and narrative dynamic rarely seen in any earlier and. contem porary novels. Part II turns co che issue o f history. Rulin waishi claims to be waishi or outer/other history as opposed to a zhengshi; ir tells a story about che end o f o f­ ficial history by presenting a secular w orld o f tem poralities and contingencies that defies the normative mode o f historical narrative. T h e failure o f sacred history to shape or make sense o f reality is best manifested in W u Jin gzi’s rep­ resentation o f K uan g C haoren as an officially recognized filial son in Chapters 15 through 20. T h e narrative breaks with the biographical tradition o f using timeless character types co m irror unchanging moral verities. It evokes the im ­ age o f K uang from the repository o f biographical narracive only to dem on­ strate his subsequent transform ation and ultimate degradation over cime. H e becomes a character w ho has fallen from static, eternal history inco the stream o f m undane occurrences thac shape and reshape his character and destiny. In a way, W u Jin g z is story takes on the atcribures o f secular time by presenting an alternative narrative characterized by whac I call ^narracive perspectivism / , R ather than assuming a fixed view, he conducted his narrative from interrelational (either interpersonal or intercextual) perspectives by exposing his char­ acters ro often changing, i f nor always conflicting, evaluations. Insread o f im ­ posing a judgm ent from above, he constantly engaged in the flux o f human and textual interactions and mutual responses, which in rurn consritures the inescapable condition for his own narrative. Parc III examines Rulin waishi's narrative innovations by placing it within the history o f che vernacular novel. T h e emergence o f Rwlm waishi in the mid-eighteenth century marks a new phase in che transform ation o f the ver­ nacular novel as a literary genre. T h e main tradition o f this genre arose from historiography and folk literature. Accom panying chis tradition are two de­ fining characteriscics o f che vernacular novel: its preoccupation wirh such subjects as dynastic cycles, military adventures, and religious journeys, and its sim ulated rhetoric o f storytelling. F or the literati novelists o f the seven­

Introduction

teenth and eighteenth centuries, however, the question was how co use the form o f the vernacular novel co address their own need for selfrepresentation while accomm odating its inherited narrative mode. W u Jin gzi proved to be one o f the mosc innovative writers. H e reshaped the mode o f vernacular fiction by diminishing, if noc demolishing altogether, the simulated rhetoric o f storytelling. Follow ing som e o f his seventeenthcentury predecessors, he also undertook a critical reflection on the inherited paradigm o f the vernacular novel by parodying its standard m otifs and re­ current references. In this w orld o f parodies, the practice o f translating the texts o f the valorized past into reality is suspended, and the canonical dis­ course loses its relevance and becomes permanently hollow. In the end, Rulm waishi positions itself not only outside official history but also outside the lineage o f vernacular ficcion. Parc I V elucidates the main characteristics o f Rulin waishi by focusing on such issues as m oral imagination, self-reflexivity, and narrative. W u Jin g zis questioning o f authoritative narrative helped to redefine narrative as a critical medium. So defined, ic is effective in undercutting che normative functions chat orchodox hisror^ and orher related genres assume for chemselves. Bur as W u Jin gzi m oved on to reconstruct the Confucian symbolic order, he was left w ithout a third option: he had either co recurn to authoritative narrative or to find a way to m inimize his reliance on narrative, if not dispense w ith it alto­ gether. T h is helps ro explain the dilemma seen in che section o f che novel on rhe T aib o ceremony. In an apparent attem pt to evoke the vision o f ascetic rit­ ual, W u Jin gzi briefly referred to the T aib o myth, subscribing to a faich in the core Confucian values without che support o f concrete narrative. H e also made use o f the form o f che Confucian riruai manual to emphasize the exter­ nal form o f ceremony and describe ricual activity in the w ay ic is prescribed. But m ythical assertion and ricual programs can hardly sustain the novel; nar­ rative is srill needed to specify and subscanciate them wichin the concrete con­ text o f human drama. In the second h alf o f the novel, W u Jin gzi thus occa­ sionally slipped into the canonical form s o f authoritative narrative (including historical biography), whose credibility he had already savaged. T h is part illuminates the ways in which Rulin waishi's creation is inexora­ bly linked co a critique o f its ow n choice o f narrative mode and sources. It describes cwo defining features o f Rulin waishi as a lirerari n ovel Firsc, Rulin waishi exhibits a compelling sense o f self-consciousness as it confronts ics own limitations and even contradictions in revoking the ascetic practice

Introduction

m eant co transcend verbal represencation and interpretation. Second, selfreflexivity is built inco the narrative partem o f Rulin waishi. In making choices for his liceraci characters (including his ficcional alter ego), W u Jin g zi alm ost always immediately revealed their least favorable side and then juxtaposed, these choices w ith other equally problematic ones. T h is habit o f always seeing som ething else and always alerting us to aJcernarive perspec­ tives is rhe corollary o f W u Jin g z is vocation as an intellectual novelist. M y discussion in this part thus emphasizes Rulin waishi's relentless selfreflexivity— a critical im pulse against ics own grain— that drives its narrative and defines its own existence as a new kind o f vernacular novel and, indeed, as a new mode o f thinking. T h e epilogue examines an im portant aspect o f the Rulin waisbi narracive: lyricism and its broken vision, W u Jingzi resorted to the lyrical ideal where the ascetic rirual failed 一 a tentative poetic solution to problems left un­ solved by che insricucionalized practice o f li. H ow ever, despite his personal appeal to the lyricism essential to the tradition o f literati culture, W u Jin gzi did noc celebrate its trium ph over the prosaic w orld and the eroding power o f secular time. R ather chan absorbing rhe fragmented mundane realm into a hom ogeneous vision, lyricism belongs only to che mom ent o f self-absorption. It is incapable o f enduring. M oreover, wich ic comes a nostalgic Longing for aurhenric rirual rhar is nor devoid o f irony, for ir merely highlights the ab­ sence and inaccessibility o f rhe lofty ideal. T h e epilogue reveals W u Jin g zis oscillation and struggle between lyricism and irony and his sharcered faith in the roraliiy o f the lyrical vision o f the world.



PART

I

Ritual and the

Crisis o f the Confucian W orld

A m ong rhe fifty-six chapters o f Rulin waishi, C hapter 37 stands out. Ic de­ scribes in great detail how a group o f literati, assembling in N an jin g from all quarters, build a temple and perform a ceremony dedicated to a Confucian sage o f antiquity, W u T aib o. A s Q ing com mentators and m odern scholars alike have noted, these events constitute the high point o f the novel.1 Chapters 33 through 36 build up co the T aib o ceremony. A fter the pro­ ject is announced in Chapter 33, readers are regularly kept inform ed o f irs progress until the ceremony taices place. A ll the literati characters in C h ap ­ ters 34 chrough 36 live in expectation o f che ceremony; but once ic is over, they fade from the focus o f the narrative, and in C hapter 46 chey finally dis­ perse. H ow ever, like W u T aib o, w hom they have commemorated, they reemerge in the memories o f those who follow them. In the last chapter o f che novel (C hapter 56), m em ory again takes che form o f a ceremony, ju st as it did in C hapter 37: che men who parcicipaceci in the T aib o cerem ony are offi­ cially com m em orated and celebrated. A s M arsron A nderson observes:

Contextually, the ricual (che Taibo ceremony) itself becomes a primary object of both desire (on the parr of its organizers in rhe preceding chapters) and of memory 1.

T h is p oin t is articulated by S h u en -fu L in in his ' R itual and N arrative Structure in J u 彳in

wai-shi" and by che W o x ian caotang edition com m entator in his rem arks on C h apter 37 (see Li H anqiu, ed,, "Ruh” waishi” huijiao huiping ben, p. 515). For an introduction to traditional criticism o f th e nature o f clim axes or sum m ations in rhe prem odern Chinese novel, see R o b to a,

Reading and Writing Between the Lines, pp. 2 6 1-6 4 .

24

R I T U A L A N D T H E C R I S I S OF T H E C O N F U C I A N W O R L D

(on the part o f che many characters in the latter part: o f che novel who long for it).. . , Whereas earlier incidents directed our interest forward co a long-delayed ^culmiiiation/’ lacer episodes instead fold back, returning us again and again to the still cen­ tral point o f che sacrifice to Taibo. Although pivotal, C hapter 37 bores and puzzles mosc modern readers. Even sym pathetic readers find chemselves frustrated, for it is, in C . T . H sia s words, "unduly disappointing in merely giving us a bald sum m ary o f the pro­ ceedings in a solemn fash ion /3 H s ia s observations on Chapter 37 are accu­ rate, with one exception: che chapter provides a detailed, step-by-step ac­ count o f the entire ritual rather than "a bald sum m ary/'4 H sia s remarks do, however, capture the reaction o f modern critics, who find w hat is supposed to be "the structural apex o f the novel” anticlimactic. T h e novelise described each o f rhe three consecutive sacrifices that make up the bulk o f the ceremon^ ac rhe same level o f detail and in alm ost exactly che same language. T h e reperitive depicrion o f the ceremonial procedure, w hich occupies almost tw o-thirds o f che chapter, seems needlessly tedious.5 W h a t chese readers miss is an account o f the ritual participants1 mental states or their "psycho­ logical responses" to the ceremony.6 Partly as a response co such comments, orher critics have tried to find new strategies o f interpretation. T h e y approach che T aib o ceremony from che viewpoint o f the theorecical models elaborated in rhe Confucian classics, especially the Xunzi. Shuen-fu Lin, for example, expounds on the ethical and philosophical implications o f Confucian ritual, and M arston Anderson, based on his interpretation o f the Xunzi, explains that emotional responses

2. A n derson , "T h e Scorp ion in the Scholar's C ap ,” pp. 271-723. C , T . H sia , The Classic Chinese Novel, p. 237. 4. C h apter 37 o f Rulin waishi offers a technical account o f ricual procedure chac is alm ost unique in prem odern Ch in ese fiction. O f M in g and Q in g fiction, probably only The Peach Blossom Fan (Taohua shan), a dram a by K o n g Sliangren (16 4 8 -17 18 ), presents a sim ilar case. A descendanc o f C on fucius, K o n g stages a sacrifice to Confucius in A c r 3, and he presents anocher sacrifice dedicated to the last em peror o f the M in g in A cc 13. In borh cases The Peach Blossom Fan represents the procedure o f che ceremonies in m uch the sam e w ay as Rulm waishi, but its depiction o f ritual is m uch less decayed and cechnicaj. 5. It is notew orthy that the translators Y a n g H sien -yi and G lad ys Y a n g obviously felt readers w ould not be interested in the repecirion o f the derails and provided only sum m ary statem ents about che last tw o sacrifices; see The Scholars, pp. 4 0 9 -13. 6 . In raising this issue, C . T . H sia (The Classic Chmese Novel, p. 237) argues thar the ab­ sence o f psychological description in the ritual passage is due co a lack o f appropriate narrative technique in che tradirion o f rhe prem odern Chinese novel.

Introduction

25

are not expected in the practice o f Confucian ritual.7 B ut questions remain: W h y is the novel so preoccupied w ith details o f ritual practice chac seem to have so little literary interest? W h y does ir focus exclusively on che external forms o f ritual action instead o f other aspects o f the ceremony? Action, to be sure, could conceivably speak for itself, but whac it says seems obscure, if noc com pletely incomprehensible. Late Q ing commentators ma^ not have shared m odern critics’ expectations o f psychological description, buc they had their own reservarions abour rhe represenrarion o f rhe ceremony. H uan g Xiaotian (1795-1867), for instance, thought: chac Chapter 37 could noc prop­ erly be called xiaoshuo (fiction) and. thus seemed out o f place.8 Buc if this chapter is not xiaoshuo, w hat is ic? A s I shall show below, rhe passage on the T aib o ceremony duplicates, or is re-created from, Confucian ritual manuals that circulated w idely in late imperial times. B y identifying its textual sources and generic features, I shall reveal some implicit narracive threads that help tie together seemingly unre­ lated episodes and scenes throughout che novel. I shall also iink Rulin waisht wirh the contem porary incellectual discourse on Confucian ricual, especially the theories o f Y an Y u an and Li G o n g — known collectively as Y a n -L i 一 and thus address issues o f comm on concern co them. I do not, however, cake Rulin waishi as merely echoing che intellectual currents o f its rime, nor do I try to reduce it to one statement or argument. Instead, I argue thac the novel gams special significance because k addresses chose comm on issues con­ cretely through narrative. W u Jin g z is narrative approach to C on fu cu n rit­ ual is o f central importance for our understanding o f che fundam ental shifts in incellecrual trends during the eighteenth centuiy: it: enabled him ro illus­ trate crises in che Confucian w orld thac lay ac a much deeper level than chose described by Confucian chinkers such as Yan Yuan and Li G ong; ir w as pare o f che contem porary intellectual discourse and also a critical reflecrion on In Part I o f this book, I examine Rulin waisbi from two perspectives: as a diagnosis o f che problem s o f rhe Confucian world and a recommendation o f Confucian rirual as a tentative solution, and as a dynamic process o f critical reflection on ics own preferred solucion. T o be more specific, W u Jin gzi in his representadon o f the anomie o f literati lives, like Y an Y u an and L i G o n g

7. See Lin, “R itu al and N arra tive Structure in ] u 4in wai-sbi"; and A n derso n , ¥'T h e S c o r­ pion tn rhe Scholar’s C a p /1 8. H u a n g X iaotian , in L i H an q iu, ed., Rulin waishi (H efei: H uan gsh an shushe, 1986),

P. 347 -

R I T U A L A N D T H E CRI S I S OF T H E C O N F U C I A N W O R L D

26

before him, emphasized the failure o f Confucian discourse to sustain the or­ der o f the world. Buc W u did not see thar discourse itself as the problem. T h ro u gh his narrative o f che literatis abuse o f Confiacian m oral rhetoric, he revealed the internal tension o f the Confucian sym bolic system, which both incites discourse and contributes to its dissolution. T h e strength o f W u jin g zi’s narrative lies not merely in its concreteness but also in its power to illuminate the hidden forces thac motivate individuals' w ords and deeds, in both their private and their public lives. Like Y an Y uan and L i G ong, W u entertained doubts about the function o f Confucian discourse that inclined him to the practice o f the 1“ or Confucian ricual, as an alternative. Bur if W u articulated with precision and subtlety the problems thac frustrated him and his fellow literati, he was ac the same cime aware o fh is own inadequacy in coping with those problems. In his representation o f the T aib o ceremony and the literatis efforts to extend the moral vision o f thac ceremony into concrete daily practice, W u seems ro have been trying to reconcile the need for Confucian ricual with ics sheer impossibility* O n the one hand, he em­ phasized the absolute commitment to Confucian ritualistic obligations chrough action; on che ocher, he engaged in a rigorous re-evaluation o f the ritual project by exposing its practitioners co contradiction, irony, and often absurd and impossible situations. Follow ing this line o f analysis, I shall argue rhat Rulin waishi demonstrates a dynamic process o f critical inquiry and self­ questioning chat resists any definite conclusion. In its earliest extanr form, Rulin waishi consists o f fifty-six chapters divisi­ ble into five parts :the Prologue or Parc I (Chapter i), Part II (Chapters 2 30), P art III (C hapters 31-37), Parc I V (Chapters 38 -55),and che Epilogue (C hapter 56). Centering around the sacrifice co W u T aib o in C hapter 37, the main body o f the novel consists o f three pares. Part II offers a series o f ironic tableaux o f literati lives, w hich leads co the Confucian ritual in Parc III as an alternative. Parc I V then describes individual efforts to realize the rit­ ual codes in everyday practice, all o f w hich end in frustration and disillusion.

9.

T h e last chapter o f the novel is excluded from m ost m odern editions because o f suspi­

cions rhac ir m ay not be by W u

Jingzi Buc there is no direct evidence ro warrant

its excJusion,

and we have ro cake it into consideration in our interpretation o f the novel as a w hole. T h e first m odern scholarly edition rhar includes C h apter 56 is "Rulin waishr huijiao huiping ben, ed­ ited by L i H an q iu and published in 1984. F or m ore detailed inform ation about the editions o f Rm/i« waishi, see the A ppendix.

Introduction

27

Rulin waishi's m oral imagination and self-scrutiny consist o f three stages, m arked by the construction and destruction o f che T a ib o temple. T h e rise o f the temple in Parc III o f the novel celebrates the trium ph o f Confucian ritual over the mundane w orld as presented in Part II. B ut this trium ph lasts only a moment. In P art I V ;as individuals try to translate the norm s o f Confucian ritual into concrete accs in cheir public and private lives, they are over­ whelm ed by frustrations and confusions. T h e contrast is unmistakable: within the temple, che Confucian ceremony is a magnificent collective action thac matches perfectly the description found in the ritual manuals; outside the temple, individual lives go awry. Consum ed w ith nostalgia for the glory o f the T aib o ceremony, the frustrated literaci keep talking about rhe cere­ m ony and revisiting the T aib o temple, but only to confirm chat they have ar­ rived too late and are hopelessly adrift. In Chapter 48 o f the novel, when W an g Y uhu i, a dedicated compiler o f Confucian riruai manuals, makes his way to che temple, he finds only an empty room with the program for the T aib o cerem ony (yizhu) perform ed m any years before, now covered with dust and almost illegible, posted on a wall. By having W an g Y u h u i confront a ricual program thac mirrors the text on which he him self has been working, Rwlm waishi creates an internal moment o f retrospective reading thac reflects on C hapter 37, for the passage on the T aib o ceremony is com posed precisely after the fashion o f yizhu, or Confiacian ritual m anuals.10 In C hapter 55, the penultimate chapter o f the novel, visitors discover chat the temple has been torn down and left in ruins. T h is study o f Ruiin waishi concerns, therefore, both che rise and the fall o f the temple ;it explores the significance o f the tem ples decay and addresses rhe question w hy the temple is conscructed in the first place.

A s a genre, yizhu refers to C on fucian ritual guides or m anuals. It is classified as a subo f shi or history. See the "Jin ^ i zhi'' section in Jiu Tangshu,juan 9, pp. 2 0 0 6 -9 ;and the M Y iw en zhi" section in Mingshi,juan 97, pp. 2396-98. 10.

category

CHAPTER .



I

Confucian Ritual

M anuals, the Y a n -L i School and Rulin waishi

In wricing about che T aibo ceremony, W u Jingzi relied less on observation or im agination and m ore on pre-existing Confucian ricual texts. H e sec the ceremony w ithin a preconceived frame o f reference; drew on a sh a re d re­ pository o f ideas, rhetoric, and associations; and assumed certain responses from contem porary literari readers. In interpreting C hapter 37 o f Rulm w ai­ shi, I begin by considering possible textual models for W u ’s fictional ritual

project. I then investigate his interactions wich ocher m em bers o f rhe N a n ­ jing literati circle and examine the intellectual trends o f the lare seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, especially rhe Yan-Li school and its rela­ tionship w ith Rulm waishi. By studying W u s circle, we can understand how he created his novel and reconstruct che context for, as well as the sources of, irs creation. T h is line o f study also helps make sense o f the larger n et­ work o f meaning in w hich both the author and his w ork participated. F o­ cusing on W u s representation o f the T aibo ceremony, I examine its p ar­ ticular references, the milieu in which it was performed, and the conditions or contingencies that made ic possible. T h e goal o f this chapter is to de­ lineate m ore clearly th e critical issues to which W u responded through narrative, as well as che vision o f a C onfucian ritualized w orld chat he em ­ braced, modified, and eventually questioned in the succeeding p a rt o f che novel.

30

R I T U A L A N D T H E C R I S I S OF T H E C O N F U C I A N W O R L D

The Taibo Ceremony and Confucian Ritual M anuals

O f the various types o f texts about Confucian ritual, the m ost relevant co the srudy o f C hapter 37 is the Confucian ritual manual, w hich offers technical prescriptions for the performance o f a series o f acts. M odeled on the classic Etiquette and R itual (Y ili), this genre deals exclusively w ith che external form

o f a ritual and shows alm ost no concern for its m e a n in g , its fu n c tio n , or the participants’ mental scare or psychological responses. C oncentrating on con­ ventionalized ritual acts, it developed its own tradition o f writing, w ith a schematic style o f exposition, a rhetoric o f repetition, and a distinctive vo­ cabulary. M ing and Q ing editions often feature diagrams chat concretely il­ lustrate ritual utensils, sites, and procedures, as well as each participants po­ sition throughout. Alchough Confucian ritual manuals date co ancient times, over che cen­ turies, especially in the eighceenth century, they were re-edited and rew rit­ ten. As Kai-wing C how has shown, Confucian ritual became a focus o f a t­ tention in the second half o f rhe seventeenth century, a tren d later reinforced by the classicist H a n learning, which, from che m id-eighteenth cencuiy on, dom inated the intellectual landscape.1 T h e com bination o f ritualism and classicism generated, a to rre n t o f discussions on the institu­ tions o f ancient rirual. T h ro u g h essays, letters, prefaces, treatises, and ritual manuals, scholars engaged in derailed accounts and discussions o f every­ thing from tem ples to ancestral halls to clothing to ritual utensils to proce­ dures, Even someone like Yuan M ei (1716-97), who was known for his p o ­ etry as well as his eccentric lifestyle, was interested 一 or ac least pretended to be interested— in rhe design o f the ancestral tem ples o f th e W estern Z h o u . Shi Jing (1692-1769), a mem ber o f th e local elite in the Jiangnan re­ gion, evinced the same interest in his letters to Yuan M ei and claimed, rhat scholars had long mistaken the M ing H all (M ingcang) for che Imperial A ncestral T em ple (T aim iao ) o f the Z h o u dynasty. W h a t interested him, however, was noc the mistake as such b u t a formal derail: che num ber o f gates in the M ing H all.2 A m ong W u Jingzis friends in N anjing was a well-known scholar o f ritual studies, Fan Shengmo. According to a brief account o f him:

1. C h ow , The Rise of Confucian Ritualism in Late Imperial China, p. 3 . 2. Se e Y u an M ei, Suiyuan sanshi zbong,juan 67, p. 3, lo a -b .

Confucian Ritual Manuals, the Y a n -L i School, and Rulin W aishi

31

His scholarship was extensive y tt profound. He felt ashamed to show off by producing empty words. Basing himself on careful research, he was able co duplicate the musical instruments, carriages, clothing, and ucensils employed in ancient ricual. When people came to ask him for advice, he always showed them these utensils so that they could understand his instruction easily.3 T his passage illustrates the ideal self-image o f eighteenrh-cencury Confucian scholars; they were men o f few bur wise words; they concentrated on rhe study o f ancient ritual systems; and they considered it their obligation to provide a concrete model for comm oners to follow in their daily practice. Confucian ritual manuals serve as precisely such a model: they are concrete, based on solid scholarship on the C onfucian classics, and easy to follow. T h e accounc o f Fan Shengmo’s engagement in ricual practice explains in part how studies o f Confucian rituals were conducted in N anjing, perhaps in the Jiangnan region in general.4 D uring the tim e W u Jingzi lived in N anjing (1733-54) and w rote his novel, the Jiangnan region rivaled the capital as a

center o f ritual studies. T h is is reflected in the compilation and publication o f ricual encyclopedias and handbooks. In 1723 or 1724, Q in H uician (17 0 2 64) began co w ork on his Comprehensive Study o j the Five Rites (W u li ton^kao),

w hich cook him thirty-eight years to complete.5 A m ong the em inent con­ tributors to this m onum enral w ork were W ang M ingsheng (1722-98), Q ian D axin (1728-1804), and D ai Z h e n (1724 -77), M any o f them also partici­ pated in compiling rhe dynasty’s official ritual handbook, T he Comprehensive Rites of the G reat Q ing (D a q in ^ tongli), which was comm issioned in 1736 and

completed in 1756, as well as the th ird edition o f che com pendium o f official regulations, T he Assembled C anon o f the G reat Q jng (D aq in g h u id ian ), which was finished, in 1763. A round che middle o f the eighteenth century, the compiling o f Confucian ritual docum ents became a comm on pursuit o f both civil offi­ cials and private scholars and for both official institutions and individuals in che capital and. in Jiangnan. As a novelist, W u Jingzi had his own way o f engaging in this incellectual endeavor. Alchough his anthology o f poetry and fu provides scant justiflca-

3. See the excerpt from Xuzhuan Juron^ xian zhi in L i H anqiu, ed., waishi" yanjiu ziliao, p. 208. C h i H en gshan , a mem ber o f the local elite w ho initiates the T aib o project, is presumably m odeled on Fan Shengm o. 4.

For further

discussion o f che eighteenth-century Confucian scholarship on Confucian

rituals in Jiangnan, see Z ico, Of Body and Brush, pp. 69-78.

5. See Hummel Emment Chinese of the Ch'ing Period, 1:16 7 -6 8 .

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tion for describing him as a scholar o f Confucian ritual,6 the central scene o f his novel is cast in che form o f a Confucian ritual manual. Chapter 37 o f Rwlm waishi embodies almost all the features that define thac generic tradi­ tion. T h e passage on rhe T aib o ceremony is preoccupied with the surface o f ritual action and utilizes a rhecoric o f repecirion and a schematic expository style. Buc ic does more rhan exemplify che form at o f Confucian ritual m anu­ als in a general sense; ir was probably modeled on specific types

o f ritual

manual. H uan g X iaotian suggested that the ritual description in Chapter 37 derives from W engongs Fam ily R itu al (W e n g o n g jia li), accribuced to Z h u X i (113 0 -12 0 0 )/ M y reading o f boch the novel and Confucian ricual manuals leads me co cwo ocher conclusions: first, the account o f the ceremony for Wu

丁 aibo

m ay be an augmented version o f a passage not from the Wen^ong

jia li itself but from an annotated and revised version o f it, namely, the Jiali ji-

jie or a w ork modeled on the Jiali jijie.8 Second, R ulin waishi might also be based on other ritual documents, possibly collections o f M in g official ricual regulations such as Collected Rites o j the M in g (D a m in g jth ), since the ceremony in _RM!m waishi includes both music and dance and thus apparently exceeds the family ritual in scale and presentation.9 6. See W u Jin gzi, Cbon^jin Wenmu sbanfangji. 7. See L i H an q iu , ed., Rm1i« waishi, p. 347. 8. See Q iu Ju n (142 1-9 5), Jiaiijijie. Q iu's edition for the m ost part preserved Z h u X i’s origi­ nal but occasionally abridged, paraphrased, or reworked ir wirh easier term inology. T h e im por­ tance o f Q iu's contribution lies, however, less in his revision o f Z h u Xi*s text than in his addiriona 】com m em ary, che Yijie. T w o things distinguish the Yijie from previous C on fucian family ricual m anuals. First, in contrast to its sources, it offers a precise description o f each step ot rhe riruai procedures as well as o f rhe deploym ent o f the ritual vessels. It achieves a high degree o f specificity in recounting the ritual actions and thus meets che practical needs o f riruai perform ­ ers. Second, it introduces tw o directors o f the rites (ton^zan and lizan), w ho call out each step to be perform ed so thar the participanrs can follow in a uniform manner. A lth ou gh Q iu Ju n was noc the first co introduce the ricual directors, he gave them a regular role in his w ork on C o n fu ­ cian fam ily riruals. T h e representation o f the T aib o cerem ony in C h apter 37 o f Rulin waishi re­ sem bles Q iu Ju n s Jia li yijie in irs presentation o f ritual directors, its phraseology and language patterns, and its concrete, detailed, depiccion o f ritual procedures, which consist o f chanted cerem onial injuiictions and cerem onial actions and gestures. For further inform ation, see Ebre^, Confucianism and Family Rituals in Imperial China, pp. 6, 173-76 . 9. O fficial ritual guides offer canonical models prim arily for riruals conducted in rhe offi­ cial dom ain. T h e participants include che em peror, m embers o f the im perial fam ily, officials, and degree-liolders. O fficial rituals differ from fam ily riruals in various w ays. O fficial rituals em ploy a large staff, including ricual directors (zanli) w hose participation im parts a high de­ gree o f uniform ity to rhe activities. M oreover, rhe m usic and dances thac are parr o f official rituals create a splendid spectacle. I11 W u Jin g z is time, Q in g official ricual guidebooks, such

Confucian Ritual M anuals, the Y a n -L i School and Rulin W aishi

33

V arious aspects o f C hap ter 37 o f Rulin waishi betray its resemblance to these tw o types o f ritual manual: irs presentation o f ritual directors (dazan, fuzan, and yinzan); its phraseology and language patterns; its concrete,

detailed, depiction o f ritual procedures; and, finally, che form at it adopts for depicting procedures thac consist o f chanted cerem onial injunctions and cor­ responding accions and gestures. O ne passage will suffice ro show th e affini­ ties between C hapter 37 and the Jialiyijie and the Damingjili. T h e same p at­ tern is repeated, twice, wirh slight variations, in the ensuing parts o f th e ritual performance. Jin Dongya [who serves as che dazan, or herald], followed by Lu Huashi, entered the hall. Coming to a hale, he announced: “Lee all caking part attend to their duries!” The musicians picked up their instruments. “Stand in order!” cried Jin. W u Shu with his banner led the men bearing wine, jade, and silk to the east of the courtyard. Then he instructed Zhang Tu, who was co read the prayers, to take che men bearing grain and sacrificial viands to che west of che courtyard, and cook his stand below them. “Music!" cried Jin. Music sounded from che hall and the courtyard. “Invoke the spirits!” Wich scented candles in. both hands, Chi Jun (Hengshan) and Du Yi (Shaoqing), che ushers [yinzan], walked outside, bowing, to greet the spirit. ^Let che music cease!" cried Jin. At once it died away in both the hall and the courtyard. “Let the votaries take rheir places!” cried Jin. The ushers went out to summon Zhuang Shaoguang and Ma Chunshang, who took their places to che left of the in­ cense table in che courtyard. "Let the mascer of sacrifice cake his place!” The ushers summoned Dr. Yu, who took his place in the middle of the courtyard, Chi and Du stood one on the right and one on the left of the incense cable. “T he abKition!” an­ nounced Chi. H e and Du led the mascer of sacrifice co wash his hands and return. "The master of sacrifice approaches che incense cable/' announced Chi. There was an aloe wood urn holding red flags on the incense cable, from which Du now took a flag bearing the word “Music." Dr. Yu went up co the incense cable. *'Kneel and offer incensd” cried Chi. “Pour a libation on the ground!" ''Prostrate yourselves; rise. Prostrate yourselves; rise. Prostrate yourselves; rise. Prostrate yourselves; rise. Re­ turn to your places!" Du took another flag bearing che word “Silence.” ''Play 'The

as the Daqing ton^i and the Huangchao liqi tusbi, liad not been com pleted. A lchough the Daqin^ ton^i purp orts co be a ritual handbook, its account o f ritual activity is relatively sketchy, com ­ pared w ith that in the Datnin^jih. T h e representation o f the T a ib o cerem ony in Ru!in waishi m ore closely resembles the M in g m odel. T h e D am ingjili, o f course, w as not the only set oF M ing official ritual regulations available to W u Jin gzi. H e m ay have also read the Darning huidian, w hose final edition was printed in 1588. T h e discussion o f ritual regulations consti­ tutes only one part o f th e Darnln^huidian, and it is less detailed than the account o f ricual pro­ cedures in th e Damingjili.

34

R I T U A L A N D T H E C R I S I S OF T H E C O N F U C I A N W O R L D

Air to Delight che Spirit/Mcried Jin. Jin Cifu conducted as the musicians in the hall placed. Presently che music ceased. *'The first offering!” cried Jin. Lu Huashi carried ouc from che shrine a placard on which was written “First:Offering.” W ith W u Shu carrying his banner before them, rhe ushers led the master of sacrifice forward. And as they passed down the east side of the courtyard, leading Ji Weixiao bearing wine, Q u Shcnfu bearing jade, and Zhuge You bearing silk, men came our of che hall to welcome che master of sacrifice. W hen they came to che west, Xiao Ding bearing grain and Ji Tianyi bearing viands led che masrer of sacrifice down the west side of the courtyard, passing in front of tKe incense table and turning east. W hen chty encered che main hall, the ushers cook their places to che right and left of the cable. The men bearing wine, jade, and silk stood otv che left, while those bearing grain and viands stood on the right. “Take ^our places!" cried Chi. "Kneel!” Dr. Yu knelr before rhe table. ''Offer wine!” Ji Weixiao knelt co pass the wine co Dr. Yu, who placed ic on the cable. "Offer jade!” Qu Shenfu knelt to pass the jade co Dr. Yu, who placed ic on the table. "Offer silk!" Zhuge You knelt ro pass che silk to Dr. Yu, who placed ir on che table. “Offer grain!" Xiao Ding knelt to pass the grain co Dr. Yu, who placed it on che table. “O f fer viandsf Ji Tianyi knelt to pass che viands co Dr. Yu, who placed [hem on the ca­ ble. This sacrifice at an end, che votaries withdrew co cheir places, and Chi cried: “Prostrate yourselves; rise. Prostrate yourselves; rise. Prostrate yourselves; rise. Proscrare yourselves; rise:’ “The first *Song and Dance of Supreme VirtueT, cried Jin. Clear music sounded from the upper part of the hall, and the thirty-six boys wich vermilion flutes and pheasant feathers advanced to dance. The dance ac an end, Jin announced :*'Let all kneel below the steps as the prayer is read.” Zhang Tu knelt before che prayer tablet and read the prayer. “Return to your places!” cried Chi. “Rise!” cried Chi. W u Shu, che ushers, and those who had borne offerings conducted the master of sacrifice off co the west. Dr, Yu returned to his place, and the others to theirs. (Rulin waisbi, hereafter R., 505-7; The Scholars, hereafcer 5 ., 409-11) In this passage, the ritual directors orchestrate the ritual performance. T heir injunctions to "prostrate yourselves” and “rise” are repeated a total o f six times, each time involving four repecicions o f each o f rhe individual phrases. H ere th e novelist relied entirely on the rhetoric o f repetition, evi­ dently feeling no need for sum mary or ellipsis. A similar technique can be found in Confucian ritual manuals, particularly in the Jia li yijie and che D am ingjilL In che sacrifices to ancestors form ulated in t h e Jia li yijie, che usher ( y i m a n ), for instance, announces a series o f accs: rtT h e ablution/’ '"Approach

che incense cable,” "Kneel and offer incense/* 'T o u r a libacion on che g ro u n d /' , #Bow. P rostrate yourselves; rise. P rostrate yourselves; rise. Pros-

Confucian Ritual Manuals, the Y an -L i School and Rulin W aishi

35

trace yourselves; rise. P rostrate yourselves; rise. R eturn to your places.”10 T h e passage quoted above transcribes alm ost w ord for w ord rhe ush ers injunc­ tions from the Jiali yijie or texts m odeled on ic. T h e injunctions are followed by actions. H ere again, the representation o f ritual activity in R«Im waishi conforms closely ro rhe model form ulated in the Jiali yijie and the Damingjili, w hich is characterized by its derailed cover­ age: nothing is coo trivial co be excluded. C hapter 37 o f Rulin waishi is in ef­ fect one o f che m ost detailed Confucian ritual manuals o f che M ing and Q ing periods. As situated in the novel, the T aibo passage is noc only prescriptive but also descriptive. In representing the T aibo ceremony, W u Jingzi created a description o f ricual activity th a t perfectly matches rhe prescription: he adopted rhe form o f the ritual manual, inserted the names o f his fictional characters, and described cheir movem ents throughout: th e ricual procedure, ju st as the m anuals prescribe. W u Jingzi not only^ cook che Confucian ricual m anual as the m odel for his representation o f Confucian ricual buc also depicted several writers or compilers o f such manuals. In C h ap ter 48, for instance, he introduced W ang Yuhui, the holder o f a licentiate degree, w ho dedicates his life to compiling Confucian ritual texts. W an g is given an opportunity to discourse on the contenr, format, and functions o f ritual manuals. “T h e ricual book (lishu)," he says, "divides che three classics o f ceremony into such categories as the C erem ony o f Serving Parents and the C erem ony o f Respecting Elders. T h e main cexr from che classics will be in large type, wich quotations beneath from che classics and histories by way o f illustration. S tudents can practice this from childhood on” (K. 647; S, 528). T h e response from che tu to r o f the local official college is encouraging: "Such a book should be recom mended by the governm ent co schools and. circulated th roughout the whole councry” (R. 6 斗8; S. 528), W u Jingzi may well have had him self in m ind in paying this com plim ent to W an g Yuhui, for in composing the T aibo passage, he, too, was in the business o f compiling Confucian ritual manuals. T h e W an g Yuhui episode thus brings us back to C hapter 37 . T h e quescion to ask here is; W h y should W u Jingzi, in w riting a novel abouc the literatis sociopolitical lives, adopt the form o f a ritual manual and then give thac form such a prom inent position in che novel?

10. Q iu Ju n , Jidli yijie, juan 7, p. 7a.

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The Y a n -L i School: Ritual V en us Discourse 丁 he

eighceench-cenrury popularity o f Confucian ritual manuals has an even

greater significance chan might at first be apparent. Focused on the concrete, formalized, and repetitive accs o f ricual, che Confucian manuals) along w ith other ritual texts, are indicative o f th e intellectual trend o f che eighteenth century and can in p art be traced back to Yan Yuan, an early Q ing C onfu­ cian practitioner. Yan Yuan s life and thought: can be found in T he Chronicle o f Y an X izhat's Life (Y a n X izbai xiansheng n ian p u ), composed by his disciple, Li

Gong, and presumably based on Yan’s diary. Accenting Yan Y u an s practice o f C onfucian riruai, T he Chronicle adopts the Confucian ritual manuals as a fundam enral source for its narrarive construction o f w hat might be described as ritualized life. Y an Y uan was a private scholar who lived in a small village in Hebei. T h ro u g h o u t his life, he was reluctant: to serve the governm ent and kept his distance from the center o f power. In fact, he avoided che established routes for social advancem ent and cast aside alm ost all conventional aspects o f che role o f literatus. H e had to farm and occasionally practiced medicine to sup­ port his family, and his emphasis on the im portance for literati o f having re­ liable sk ills or the means o f su p p o r c in g chem selves was a new orientarion in the literacies spiritual life. D uring the second half o fh is life, Yan Yuan com m itted him self to reach­ ing and practicing Confucian ritual. In T he Chronicle, he is portrayed as a m an whose daily life had become ritualized, Ac age thirty-five, Yan Yuan re­ nam ed his study Practice Studio (X iz h a i).11 From then on, his calendar was filled wirh activities ranging from the daily ritual o f greeting to seasonal sac­ rifices to ancestors. Yan Y uan reinforced che Confucian rules for his disci­ ples: no single m om ent o f cheir lives should be wichouc ricual. A nd he was no less rigid w ith himself. W e are often told how he followed che rules o f ritual in eating, dressing, walking, and interacting with others. H e im m edi­ ately chastised him self for carelessness if he neglected ro don a h at when go­ ing out or when stepping outside co relieve him self at m idnight. Even when alone, he practiced riruals such as th at o f greeting. A nd he perform ed this rite w ith as much reverence as if he were facing an honored guest (ru lin d ab in ). If a friend happened to visic him while he was perform ing a ritual, he

ii.

L i G on g, "Y an X izh a i xiansheng nianpu,"

p.

716.

Confucian Ritual Manuals, the Y an-Li School, and Rulin W aishi

37

would invite him to join in, for he believed th a t ritual was designed for prac­ tice and not for observation. Such anecdotes can be found throughour The Chronicle、 T o m odern readers, such routine ritual acts may seem, trifling and

fragmentary, buc The Chronicle organizes them in such a way as to present a holistic expression of che ritualized Life. In the tradition o f biographies o f Confucian scholars, The Chronicle of Yan Xizhai's Life is perhaps an exceptional case. Seldom, if ever, do we find a

biography rhar presents a Confucian scholar as so preoccupied with rituals on a daily basis. W h a t is more im portant to the present discussion is th a t in introducing che details o f Yan Yuan’s daily practice, The Chronicle often makes use of Confucian ritual manuals. In the section "At age thirty-seven," The Chronicle reads: ’’[Yan Y uan] practiced rhe ceremonies of greering and

sacrifice:12 W h a t follows is a m inute account o f ceremonial proceedings oc­ cupying several pages. T his paragraph, like th e passage on th e T aibo cere­ mony in Rwlin waishi, is evidently re-created from ritual manuals.13 I f Yan Y uans life is represented as a process o f ncualizarion, chis process is, so to speak, punctuated by performances from rirual manuals. Som ething similar can be found in Rulin waisht: C hapter 36, which pro­ vides a biography o f Yu Yude, the ricual m aster in the T aibo ceremony, is followed by C hapter 37, which takes the form o f a Confucian ritual m an u al Like the description o f ritual practice in The Chronicle, the passage on the T aibo ceremony seems deliberately ro om it such verbal acts as rhe praters chat were ofcen included in ritual manuals and instead focuses exclusively on physical actions. In borh The Chronicle and Rulin waisht, Confucian ricual ap­ pears, therefore, not as a subject o f contem plation and interpretation bu t as concrete activities to be perform ed on a variety o f public and private occa­ sions. T h e quesrions I address here are: W h ^ do rhe rwo texts emphasize such rigid com m itm ent co the practice o f Confucian rituals? W h y do chey seem co be concerned mainly wich accurate execution o f che rituals? D o chey offer a mere surface image or do they imply a m oral vision? In ''The S tructure o f Chinese Funerary Rices: Elem entary Forms, Ricual Sequence, and the Prim acy o f Perform ance,” James L. W atso n argues for rhe greater im portance o f performance over belief in the ritual life o f late im ­ perial times. H e asserts th at che proper performance o f the rites m attered

12. Ibid., p . 734. ij. T h e ricual manual in The Chronicle was probably compiled by Y a n Y u m himself. Yan Y u an com piled many Titual texts, and his Liwew iboucbao is based on rhe Wen^on^jiali.

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m ost to everyone concerned, whereas “the internal scare o f the participancs, their personal beliefs and predisposition, are largely irrelevant:’14 According to him, this had profound consequences for che creation o f a unified cultural system in late imperial C hina :uBy enforcing orthopraxy (correct practice) rather than orthodoxy (correct belief) state officials made ic possible to in ­ corporate people from different ethnic or regional backgrounds, w ith varying beliefs and attitudes, inco an overarching social system we now call China.,,ls Based on the observation o f ritual practice, W acson offers compelling com ­ m ents on Q ing rirualism, emphasizing conformity co the canonical form of practice. Yet his proposed dichotom y o f meaning versus perform ance icself needs to be historically located and defined. Furtherm ore, as a preconceived fram ew ork for arg u m en t it blocks alternative views and further discussion.16 In a response to W acson’s thesis, Evelyn S. Rawski argues in "A H istorians A pproach ro Chinese D earh R iruar7: "W hile many historians might agree rhac the Confucian state emphasized orthopraxy, they w ould n o t agree wich W acson’s conclusion chac che scate did noc link orthopraxy wich orthodoxy.Hl7 "Confucians,” Rawski explains, "did not only assume chat belief pre­ ceded and was che stim ulus for performance; th e y also understood char per­ formance could lead to inculcacion of belief. R ather th an m aking a sharp distinction between belief and practice 』therefore, Chinese ruling elite tended to see belief and practice as organically linked to one another, each influencing the o th e r/18 As a historian, Rawski stresses, for good reasons, the role o f oral and w ritten articulations in the construction of ritual meaning. However, she seems to have skipped the crucial questions o f how ritual meanings are con­ structed and how th e C onfucian scholars o f different periods interpreted the meanings o f ricual praccice. As we will see, these are precisely the issues at the core o f intellectual debate in the late seventeenth and. eighteenth centuries.

14. In W atson and Raw ski, Death Ritual in Late Imperial and Modern China, p. 6. 15. Ibid., p. 10. 16. In a critical, comprehensive survey o f existing theories on ricual, Catherine Beil em pha­ sizes the approach that defines ricual as action or praccice. Alchough she adm its the contribu­ tions o f this approach co our understanding o f rituai, Bell armies that it often succum bs to circular argum ent. H e r own approach to rirual activities "stresses the prim acy o f che social act itself, how its strategies arc lodged in the very doing o f rhe acr, and h ow *rirualization is a strategic way o f acting in specific social situations’' (Rttual Theory, Ritual Practice, p. 67). For her further elaboration o f the term "ricualization/' see P art II I o f ibid., pp. 171-223. 17. In W a tso n and R aw ski, Death Ritual m Late Imperial and Modern China, p. 22. 18. Ibid., p. 28.

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Yan Yuan, in his writings on C onfucian ritual, conjured up a dichotomy o f ritual as practice versus ritual as discourse or m editation. In reinforcing practice, Yan positioned him self firmly in opposicion co the teaching o f w hat he deemed to be Song and M ing N eo-Confucians, who, according to him, had replaced ritual practice w ith lectures (jia n g x u e ) and quiet sitting (jin g zu o ). Alchough Confucian ritual was one subject o f N eo-Confucian discourse and introspective reflection, Yan Yuan argued, it was largely confined to words and medicacion. T h e consequences o f such an intellectual tendency, as he saw it, were dangerous, for Confucian ritual propriety became isolated from action, subject only co verbal elaboration and interpretation and thus to various hypotheses and unending negotiations. Com m enting on che N eoC onfucians, obsession with speech and writing, Yan Yuan wrote: M T h e sages* w ords can guide us along rhe road. B ut now no one sets his feer on che road. People jusc im itate the sages' words and consider it walking. G eneration af­ ter generation, the words chac guide us along che road become m ore and more num erous, but seldom are people found on the broad w a y (d a o ) o f the Zhou,"19 Y an criticized N eo-C onfucians for their exclusive focus on the ver­ bal elaboration o f hum an nature, inclination, ritualistic obligation, and m oral principle.20 Even more serious for him was w hat he saw as th e ironic disjunction and discrepancy in the words, thoughts, and deeds o f his con­ temporaries: 'I f even ones heart does nor correspond co one’s m outh, how m uch less would it be so o f one’s sel£ o n es family, and state affairs? I f one applies w ords co actions, there is seldom a perfect match." "B y this/* he con­ cluded, “we know rhac w ithour practice w hat we learn from che heart and w hat we p u t forth in writing and speech are simply o f no use at all.”21 Yan Y uan’s critique o f Neo-Confiacian discourse derived from his observacions and diagnoses o f the lace M ing crisis. H e noted chac in the late M ing moral education depended almosr entirely on oral and w ritten articulations. W h en the only thing mascers teach is speech, rhat is all students learn. W ith in lace M ing literati circles, calk was che order o f che day. Silence oc­ curred only at intervals, when the literaci practiced quiet sitting and reflected on rhe words th e y have read, memorized, and discussed. B ut words, book learning, and introspective reflection seem to have led nowhere. As Yan Yuan frequently rem inded his disciples and his readers, even as lare M ing

19. Y an Y u an , "C unxue bian/’ in idem, Yan Yuan ji. p. 86.

20. Ibid., 21. Ibid.

p. 56.

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literati were so deeply preoccupied with w ords and thoughts, the moral o r­ der they elaborated eroded and ultimately disintegrated. Y a n Y u an s distrust o f discourse prom pted him to explore an alterna­ tive— che S ix A rts (liuyi, thar is, ritual, music, poetry, calligraphy, charioteer­ ing, and archeiy). O f these, Y an stressed ritual 一 “die authentic Confucian teaching* o f ancient tim es— which, according ro him, had been ignored and even forgotten, because o f che pernicious influence o f the N eo-C onfucian fondness for "em pty talk/’ Y an Y u an insisted thac only deeds can serve as the resting ground for words and thoughts. T h e moral order, he argued, was sustained not through writing and w ords but through concrete practice.22 A s any student o f premodern Chinese culture knows, the meaning o f li is not confined to ritu al In Confucian discourse li is so broadly defined as to des­ ignate the norm s by which almost every aspect o f individual behavior and sociopolitical life are regulated. For Y an , li is, therefore, a mediating term. It is simultaneously a synecdoche for the Confucian ritualistic order, o f which ritual is the m ost concrete and representative part, and a m etonym y for chat order— the vision o f a ritualized w orld transformed into reality through the practice o f rituals designed for a variety o f social occasions. Y an Y u an ’s concepts o f discourse, practice, and. the Confucian ritualized life were further affirmed by scholars o f classical learning in che eighteenth century. O f W u Jin g z is friends in N anjing, Cheng T in gzuo (1691-1767) was ju st such a scholar. In an essay entitled "O n R itual and M usic" (“L i yue lun”), C heng argued thac Confucian ritual consists o f two elements: art

22.

and

U n d er che influence o f classicist H an learning, few scholars o f the eighteenth cen­

tury could avoid textual issues in cheir prom otion o f C on fucian ritual, because seleccing and adapting written m odels for practice had becom e very m uch a m atter for classical scholar­ ship. A s the Y a n -L i school evolved during che eighteenth century, its discourse gradually became intertw ined w ith this new trend o f H a n learning. A s K ai-w in g C h o w has noted, although Y a n Y u an was know n for bis advocacy o f Confucian ritual and che S ix A rts, he gave little thought to textual problem s in rhe classics. Preoccupied by his dispute wich the N eo -C on fu cian s, 4,he had always w arned against excessive book learning co the neglect o f practical purpose" (The Rise of Confucian Rifutjliim in Late Imperial China, p. 65). D espite his m entor s w arnings, L i G o n g no longer found it necessary to choose berween book learning and che practice o f Confucian ritual. H e cam e to share the classicists' approach co textual studies, and iiis appreciation o f classical scholarship was further strengthened through per­ sonal contact wich W a n Siton g (16 58-170 2) and M ao Q ilin g (16 2 3-17 16 ), tw o eminent clas­ sicists from th e Jiangnan region. F o r Li G on g, Y an Yu an 's goal o f restoring the C onfucian w orld through the practice o f ritual and rhe S ix A rcs could nor be achieved wjrJ)our rhe help o f textual studies.

Confucian Ritual M anuals, the Y a n -L i School, and Rulin W aishi

41

meaning (^i).23 Shu refers co che external form and orher technical aspecrs o f che ceremony (how is it designed and practiced); and yi to the reasons for the ceremonial system. C heng explained:

when shu is illuminated and fully

complete can yi be clearly manifested to the minds o f all the people/’^1 Since che ancient sages relied on rituals in cultivating virtue and prom oting social order, to dispense with rituals would leave Confucians, whatever the good intenrions behind cheir endeavors, with no concrete, efficient inscrumenrs. Although C heng began with the dichocomy o£yi versus shu, he ended up ar­ guing that yi depended on sbu. In his final argument, the distinction between form and meaning, between surface and. substance, becomes largely irrele­ vant, T o Cheng, as to Y an Yuan, rhe practice o f Confucian rirual is noc necessarily an expression o f ideas, intentions, and emotions buc a form al­ ized rehearsal o f such correct or appropriate atncades as reverence, noncompetitiveness, and mutual respect, which are congenial co the institu­ tions o f social intercourse?5 T h u s the impact o f ritual on individuals is beyond the reach o f book learning, and its essence can hardly be captured through mere words. A s an indispensable mode o f Confucian moral teach­ ing, Confucian ritual has significance in praxis: its moral meanings are im ­ manent only in rirual activity. B y setting up che dichotom y o f ritual and discourse, however, Y an Yuan seems to have created more problems than he solved. Although he posi­ tioned him self strongly against Neo-Confucianism , modern scholars have found it difficult co distinguish his position from char o f W an g Yangm ing (1472-1528), who advocated "constant practice in the m idst o f concrete af­ fairs." "T an Y uan s emphasis on practice again reminds us o f W ang Yangming’s 'unity o f knowledge and. action,’ ” T u W ei-m ing has pointed out, "Know ledge is merely em pty talk if it cannot be put co use. G enuine knowl­ 23. C h en g T in g zu o, Q in ^ i wenji.juan 3, p. 2b. 24. lbid.,ju aK 3, p. sb. 25. M odern theorists have deveJoped approaches co the studies o f ricaal that enable us to gain a m ore sym parheric understanding o f the view thar C h en g T in gzu o suggests here. Stanley Jeyaraja Tam b iah's elaboration o f the perform ative aspect o f ritual is one such exam ple ; see his Perform ative A pproach to R itual/' Suzan ne Langer also emphasizes that rhe form alization chat characterizes ritual requires the adoption o f conventionalized gestures as opposed to im ­ provised action. Sh e argues that the distinctive characteristic o f ritual lies noc in its evocation o f feelings in an im m ediate psychological sense bur in w hat she considers th e 'articulation o f feel­ ings /1 'T h e ulrimace product o f such an articularion is noc a sim ple em otion, but a com plex permaiienc arcicude/' A s she puts ic, ritual is nor a “free expression o f em otions ual practitioners from claiming symbolic power and inject a sense o f spon­ taneity and genuineness into ritual, which has become an all too oppressive form o f tyranny? Chapter 5 5 s parallels wich the W an g Yuhui episode are manifest in ics account o f Jing Y u an s visit to the Taibo temple. Although the story o f the four townsmen cannot cope with all the problems o f Confucian ritual, ir risks ics own narrative credibility in achieving what is lacking in W ang Yuhuis ritualistic experiences. T h e four townsfolk are free from the ethical bonds of family, lineage, and rural communities, just as they are disconnccted from the official realm. Their parents are either dead or left unmentioned. T h ey themselves are either unmarried or widowed. A nd they are locked into the peripheral place o f the market, with minimum interac-

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114

tion with the world beyond. Ethical obligations are no longer the concern o f their stories. However, W u Jingzi did not forsake the Confucian theme o f ritual. Instead, he adopted a new approach to it and set out to. restore the imagined homogeneity between the worlds o f ritual and everyday life through devotion to the literati arts. As.noted above, Chapter 55 begins with the four literati arts o f music, chess, calligraphy, and painting, since they represent ritual for individuals in the same way chat ancient ritual constitutes part o f the Six Arts. Small won­ der chat Yan Yuan and other Confucian ritualists often compare ritual prac­ tice to the training people receive in playing the qin and other music instru­ ments: it requires a lifetime commitment if one hopes to reach the state o f spontaneity in performance; in which "one’s heart forgets about one's hands and ones hands no longer feel the strings/’16 W u Jingzi did much in Chapter 55 co convey the sense o f immediacy in the performance of the amateur cialligraphers and musicians. In his introduction o f Ji X ia’nian, the self-taught calligrapher, he conjured up a personality ofn aturd spontaneity: H is calligraphy w ai superb. H e would not study ancient writing, tKough, but cre­ ated a style o f his own and wrote as his brush, dictated .. . . H e wrote only i f Ke hap­ pened to be in the m ood; I f he was not in the mood, then no matter whether you were prince, duke, general, or minister, or what silver you heaped on him, he would not even look at you. (R. 7 39 -40 ; S. 594)

By envisioning a "natural” state o f artistic practice, W u managed to impart a lace M ing romantic impulse to his narrative o f everyday ritua} experience, thereby connecting ritual to nature and counterbalancing institutionalized

/ -f.

r

practice with individual spontaneity and sensibility.

Although it is far removed from the official world and Confucian rural communities, the marketplace is by no means a congenial place for the spirit o f detachment and literati aesthetics. A s indicated in the account o f Gai Kuan, who is cheated o f his property by his shop assistants, the marketplace stimulates avarice. Earlier in the novel, the market is exposed to pollution by mercantile values, and the townsmen who fight for economic profit are pre­ sented as the counterparts o f civil officials and literati struggling for either political power or symbolic authority. In Chapter 55 o f the novel, the marketplace is, however, recast. A s exem- *. plified in the scene in the garden, there is an effort to create in the city a

t6. Yan Yuan, "Cunxue bian," m Yan Yuan ji, p. 79,

T h e Destruction o f the T aibo T em ple: Ascetic R itual in Crisis

115

substitute for nature. In this fantastic realm appear the major characters o f the story, the literati recluses, whose guise as townsmen saves them the troubles that have plagued their counterparts in the mundane world o f re­ ality. A s C . T . Hsia has noted, the account o f che four townsmen in Chap­ ter 55 gives compelling expression to the Confucian notion: "W hen ritual (li) is lost, one seeks ic in uncultivated places (li ibi er qiuzhu y e ).,fV I f the construction o f the Taibo temple is itself an escape from the official world into the world o f the literati, the further withdrawal from that world inro the marketplace is the last resort for restoring the values treasured by the literati. T h is last retreat is individual, aesthetic, and imagined; it is bound by necessity but portrayed as pure possibility— a promise that remains largely unfulfilled.

17. C. T, Hsia, foreword to the paperback edition of the English translation of R»lin waishi, n.p. For Confucius's remarks, see Ban Gu, "Yiwen zhi," vol. $,juan 30, p. 1746,

PART

I

Conclusion

One o f rhe centr^ concerns in m y interpretation o f Ruiin w aishi is the issue o f rirual or./i- T h is approach has enabled me to illuminate the structure o f the novel and explain its development from one section to the next in a dynamic, albeit problematic, process o f searching and self-questioning. Rulin w aiihi follows a long trajectory, from attacking official literati culture to re­

flecting on ics alternatives and from a parodic account o f the dualistic, narra­ tive Confucian /i to a critical exposure o f ascetic ritual. It is conservative in the sense that it tries not co deviate from Confucianism even in coping with such problems o f Confucian practice as Hypocrisy, the discrepancy between words and deeds, and the unrestrained competition for control and distribu­ tion o f economic and sociopolitical resources. But in developing a new vision o f ascetic Confucian ritualism, it seems to swing to the opposice extreme: by emphasi2ing ritual obligation to the exclusion o f sociopolitical duty, it cre­ ates fanatical protagonists like Filial Guo and W an g Yuhui, who arc so committed to what they believe to be their sacred vocation that they see no consequences co their own behavior. Thcir ascetic ritual therefore either re­ mains unrealized or is realized differencly from the way they hoped, and their stories end in frustration, disillusionment, and irreparable ambivalence. By depicting the dark side o f ascecic practice, the novel explores the limitt o f the choices available under Confucianism and, ultimately, che fundamental complexity and irony o f the human drama.

Il 8

R I T U A L A N D T H E C R I S I S OF T H E C O N F U C I A N W O R L D T h e penultimate chapter o f the novel, Chapter 55, makes a last effort to

recuperate the vision o f the Confucian ascetic ritual— an effort that unfolds on the level o f imagination and allegory. It tells a &ble about literati'dis­ guised as townsmen in order to save their own values and ideals, but the dis­ guise is more than a disguise— it is essential. Although in Confucius's time li was not supposed to extend to commoners, the novel makes it clear that /r needs low-starus outsiders to ensure its genuineness. Throughout the novel, li undergoes a series o f significant shifts, from the collective (Chapter 37) to

the individual (Chapters 38 through 55), from the ethical to the aesthetic, and finally from practice to pure imagination. A s the final site for li, the marketplace is merely a less magnificent version o f the Taibo temple, one that is constructed both in fiction and as fiction. T h e originality ofRnltrt w aishi lies not in its critique o f Confucian ritual in general. In fact, the novel represents different sorts o f ritualistic practice un­ der the rubric o f Confucianism. In developing the vision o f ascetic ritualism, it provides 3 . critical response to what W u Jingzi saw as the immanent prob­ lems o f Confucian discourse, but in so doing, it also tests the limits o f C on ­ fucianism. T h e construction o f such a ritualized world requires a separate space and a bold conceptualization o f Confucian asceticism. T h e center is located within the local community composed o f individual literati and fami­ lies, as opposed to the court, the center o f the official world; it is also sym -: bolized by the temple dedicated to W u Taibo, a Confucian sage who acteH on his private ethics by yielding the throne to his younger brother. A t the conceptual level, chis ascetic ritualism brings the Confucian claim o f family ethics to its logical extreme and turns ic into an absolute obligation to be ful­ filled at the expense o f all other social obligations. Out o f such conviction comes extreme behavior, as we see in the narrative o f Filial Guo, W a n g Y u ­ hui, and the Y u brothers. Th e stories o f these ascetic heroes suggest that their extremism is neces­ sary to counter narrative ritual, which has slipped into pure verbal articulation or "empty talk.” Criticism o f empty calk and the discrepancies o f discourse and practice is a commonplace in early Qing intellectual discourse. But W u Jingzi* did more than represent these phenomena as such: his in-depth narrative dis­ closes the mechanism that turns practice into discourse and replaces or dis­ guises deeds with words in Confucian lives; it also shows how the dualistic li o f the Confucian symbolic system shapes the literati*s behavior and highlights its internal tension as the cause o f its own disintegration.

Conclusion

119

Although his stories about literati hypocrisy and deception illuminate' individual motivations and calculations, W u Jingzi placed more blame on the system than on its agents. A s is made clear in the introductory chapter o f the novel, the civil service examinations exemplify the logic underlying the dualisric system o f !i. A s testified to again and again in the rest o f the novel, this dualisdc system encourages verbal negotiation between ritual and sociopolitical obligations; ic fuels competition for the control o f sym­ bolic authority and mundane power, as well as the exchange between the two. In the end, W u Jingzi's critique o f ascetic ritual is matched by his dis­ trust o f narrative ritual. Despite all the longings and memories surrounding che Taibo remple, Chapter 55 o f Rulin w aishi confirms that the novel will not end wirh a simple affirmation* W ith exquisite sophistication, it instead manages to qualify or call into question the vision o f the ritualized world that it embodies. I f in the temple W a n g Yuhui finds himself tragically abandoned, in Chapter 55 the Taibo temple itself is abandoned. W h en Gai Kuan and an old neighbor visit the temple, he finds only ics remains: The main hall of the Taibo temple with the front half of the roof caving in. Five or six kids were playing ball in front of the double gates, one of which had fallen to the ground. Going in, they came upon three or four old country women, who were plucking shepherds purse in the temple courtyard. The latticework in the front had disappeared, and the five buildings ac the back were completely stripped1— nor even a floor plank was left. After walking around, Gai sighed. T o think that so famous

3

place should have fallen into such ruins!" "In those days,"

said his neighbor, "Mr. Chi bought many utensils, all of the antique kind, and kept them in large cabinets on the ground floor of chis building. Now even those cabi­ nets are gone!" (R. 746; S. 599-600) T his scene reminds us o f what W a n g Yuhui once saw in the same temple. Searching for an answer ro his questions, W a n g encountered the y izhu on the wall that gave no answers, only an echo ofhis own writings. Standing be­ fore the rirual utensils locked in rheir cabiners, he found rhat this sacred temple, impressive as it was, felt empty. But he did not realize that this ideal temple was only a step away from collapse. T w o dozen years later, it is in ru­ ins. N o w people hardly come to it, or else they come for irrelevant reasons. Country women pick vegetables in the courtyard, and children rum the open land in front into a noisy playground. In the context o f the mundane world, the sacred temple has collapsed, and the efforts to protect it from the

120

R I T U A L A N D T H E C R I S I S OF T H E C O N F U C I A N W O R L D

contamination o f alien eyes and clamor have failed. Th is disturbing scene, placed at the end of the novel, suggests a final, retrospective comment on the novel itself as an unsuccessful effort to create a Confucian ritualized world: the temple was constructed in order to be destroyed and suffered the same fate as the ritual program posted on its wall.

P

A

R

T

I I

B ey o n d Official H istory

Ruli^ waishi offers critical reflections on a wide range o f problems in mideighteenth intellectual discourse and practice. But it does so from a historical perspective一 it is sei in the M ing dynasty* In the preface to the 1803 edition o f Rulfrt waishi, Xianzhai Laoren (Old man o f the Leisure Studio) linked the novel to Sim a Q ian s (145-86? b c e ) Shiji (Records o f the grand historian) and Ban G u s (32-9 2) Hansbu (History o f the H an dynasty) and elaborated its significance in terms o f the goals and functions o f historiography:1 Ficrion (baiguan) is one of the branches of historiography. Those who are good at reading fiction can advance to reading history* Therefore works of fiction, like his­ tory, must praise virtue and condemn evil (shan shan c c) so that the reader will be moved co emulate the good examples and take warning from the evil ones, and so that social customs and human hearts will in all likelihood be maincained without being corruptedx T h e concept o f shan shan t c appears in the last chapter o f Sbiji*3 In this con­ ception, the historians primary task is to piss judgment on historical figures

k In a similar vein, the commcnrator in the Woxian caotang edition remarked of Chapter t o f Rulin waishi: "The author [of rhe novel] employed the talent of a Sima Qian or a Ban Gu in writing ficrion" (Li Hanqiu, ed” m Rulin waishiMhuijiao huiping bcnt p, 16)* 2. Ibid-^p, 763‘ For David Robrons En^ish translation of Xianzhai Laorcns preface to the novel, see Rolston, cd” How to Read Cfciwwc Novel, pp. 249-51, 3* Sec Sima Qian, Shijifjuan 130, p. 3297, A similar phrase appears in the Zuozhuart (Zuo commentary); see Duke Cheng, 19th year.

122

BEYOND OFFICIAL HISTORY

and past events for future generations, that is co szy, to "praise or blame" (baobian) and “approve or disapprove" (yuduo), or more specifically, to pre­ sent positive and negative models o f behavior. Despite the different readings Qing dynasty commentators offered o f Rulm waishi, they were inclined to emphasize its moral and narrative authority in accordance with this model o f historiography. T h e Qixingtang edition commentator regarded W u Jingzis conclusion o f the list o f characters in the final chapter with Guo Tiebi (Iron Pen Guo) as implicit praise o f the author himself {zuozhe zizan), who, as a historian, was inscribing a permanent, immutable judgment o f his characters with a sharp, penetrating pen.4 In similar fashion, the commenta­ tor o f the W oxian caotang edition likened the way W u Jingzi ended the novel with an autobiographical ci poem to Sima Qian’s closing o f the Shiji with the "grand historians own statement/' a personal expression o f his mis­ sion, his ambitions, and his specific understanding o f history.5 But Ru/in waishi either does not achieve the level o f a history or else goes well beyond it, for waishi literally means "outer history•’ or “history from the outside.” Xianzhai Laoren regarded waishi as no different from yeshi or batguan, that is, as informal or unofficial history, as it was commonly defined during che M ing and Qing periods. So far as Rulm waishi is concerned, wau shi signals its generic category as a vernacular novel.6 Nevertheless, few nov­ elists o f the M ing and Qing periods followed W u Jingzi and called their work a waishi.7 Xianzhai Laoren argued that, in the case o f Rh/im waishi, ’ *'

4 - See

Li Hanqiu, ed., "Rwlin waishi" huijiao huiping ben, p. 760. " 5. Ibid., p. 763. In his study of the W u Liang Ci carvings of the Han dynasty, W u Hung

writes: "The last scene in the series of pictures on the W u Liang Ci walls, which appears at the lower left corner of the east wall, represents a country official paying respect to an oxdrawn carriage belonging to a retired gentleman. Most scholars agree that the retired gentle­ man is W u Liang himself.** H e regards this pictorial signature ofW u Liang as echoing the hutorians* statements made at the end of Sfjtj'i and Hanshu. See W u Hung, The Wu Liang Shrine, pp. 213-14,217. 6 . For studies of the relationship between the vernacular novel and historiography, see Plaks, **Towards a Critical Theory of Chinese Narrative," in idem, ed., Cbinest Narrative, pp. 309-53; and Rolston, TraditionaJ Chinese Fiction and Fiction Commentary, pp. iji-65. For further disctusion of the terms yeshi, baiguan (or baishi), and xiaoibuo in Gn^ish scholarship, see Rol­ ston, Traditional Chineie Fiction and Fiction Commentary, pp. 131-34; and Roddy, Literati Identity

and Its Fictional Representations in Late Imperial China, pp. 109-11.

7. The term waishi was applied to a variety of genres and texts in premodern times, pri­ marily the vernacular novel, such as Niixwn waishi by Lu Xiong. Some collections of classical tales also bear this title. In general, genres and texts composed by private authors rather than

Introduction

123

naming itself might: weU be an assertion. W u Jingzis use o f the rerm, ac­ cording to him, demonstrated his willingness to distance his novel from zhengshi— orthodox or official history: "Th e novel is called 'waishi because it is not meant to be listed among the zhengsbi'A Accordingly, I shall translate waishi either as ”unofficial history" or as "outer history/1 depending on the context. Since W u Jingzi insisted on defining his novel by its differences from zhengshi, to understand it we must first: examine the concept and practice o f zhengshi. A brief survey o f official historiography shows that the term zhen^shi daces co the Liang dynasty o f the sixth century CE, and rhe rexes included under this rubric are not always o f the same kind. In most cases, zhengshi designates a dynastic history sponsored by the imperial court and modeled upon Sbiji, although Sim a Qian's work covers a much longer period and crosses dynastic boundaries.9 Like the authorities o f the previous dynasties, the Manchu court o f the Qing assumed the task o f writing the history o f the preceding dynasty, the Ming, as soon as its first emperor was enthroned in 1644. Despite occasional lapses o f pace and intensity, the project was carried out with a. sense o f urgency, largely because o f the eagerness o f the Manchu court to legitim ize ics newly acquired authority and prevent M ing loyalists from writing and circulating their own histories o f the Ming. Th e concerted effort o f officials and scholars, the

shi (M ing history) was finally com­

pleted in 1735 and printed four years later. Its publication initiated the Qing courts attempts to redefine the concept o f zhengshi. A s the Sifew quanshu (Complete library o f the four treasures), a state bibliographical project, was being compiled, the Qianlong emperor declared that only the Twenty-four Histories, from Shiji to Mingshi, were entitled to be called zhengshi. From the perspective o f the Qing court, at least, the list o f official histories had beein completed once and for all.10

by officially appointed compilers that drew on informal sources or deviated from historical veracity are found under the rubric waishi. 8/Xianzhai Laoren seems to have drawn a line between shi (historiography) and zhengshi (official historiography): he emphasized that Rulin waishi is close co shi in that it "praises virtue and condemns evil’, (shan shan c e), but that it docs not seek to be lifted among the zhengshi. 9. For the use of rhe term zhengshi before the eighteenth century, see "Jingji zhi" in and Jiu Tangshu. For the official definition of j^engthi in the Qing dynasty, see juan 45 and 46 of Sifeu quanshu zon^mu, 1: 397-417. In this account, it is rhe Qianlong emperor who issued an imperial edict to define zben^hi and to restrict the term to mean the Twenty-four histories. 10. Siku qua»sbu zongmu, 1: 397.

124

BEYOND OFFICIAL H IS TO RY W h a t this meant to the literati o f the time deserves further inquiry and

assessment^ yet its impact on the contemporary practice o f historiography was immediately apparent. A s historians have noted, the completion o f the M ir t^ H istory, together with ocher sociopolitical and inrellectual changes, con-

tribuced to a sharp decline in private scholars’ interest in writing about M ing history during the mid- and late eighteenth century.11 Unlike most scholars, who diverted their energies from recent history, W u Jingzi spent some twenty years working on Rulitt w aishi. It is difficult to determine exactly when he began writing his novel, but we know from Xianzhai Laoren that by the time the pre&ce was composed the novel had acquired its title.12 It may not be pure coincidence chat the preface is dated the second month o f 1736, a few months after the completion o f the M in g H istory. W h at did it mean to compose a w aishi during a period when the zhengshi were declared to have been completed once and for all? Is w aishi meant to en­ compass what is excluded from the zhengshi or to revise what they include? Does it suggest a narrative undertaken from a peripheral perspective and thus refusing to confirm the central narrative o f the zhengsbii These ques­ tions are compounded by the fact that Ru/i« in

waishi, literally, "the for­

est o f Confucian scholars " is derived from a section o f Shiji, "Biographies o f the Forest o f Confucian Scholars" ("Rulin liezhuan"), which consists o f en­ tries on scholars noted for their study o f the Confucian classics. Following Sbijt a£ model, almost all the dynastic histories contain a "Rulin liezhuan," al­ though the definitions o f R uIim vaty.13 T h e following questions arise: Should

11. See Qiao Zhizhong, Q in^hao ^uanfang shixue yanjiu, pp. 222-26; and Huang Aiping, "Min^bi zuanxiu yu Qingchu shixue." 12. Exactly when W u Jingzi began composing Rulm waishi remains a matter o f speculation. For further discussion o f tKis debate, see the Appendix. For now it suffices to say that wc have no reason to rule out the possibility that W u Jingzi did not begin until 1736, when Xianzhai Laoren, a friend o fW u (if he was not W u himself), composed the preface co the novel. Scholars have not reached a consensus as to the identity of Xianzhai Laoren. Since che Woxian caotang commentary on Rwliw waishi refers to the Yanlan xiaopu, which was printed in 178$ (see Li Hanqiu, ed., "Jtwim waishi" huijiao huipiti^ ben, p. 16), some critics argue that the date attached to the Xianzhai Laoren preface is unreliable. But there is no evidence co show that Xknzhai Laoren was necessarily responsible for the Woxian caotang commentary or that the preface and the commentary were composed by the same person. 13. During the compilation of the Ming History in the second half o f the seventeenth cen­ tury, historians held a heated debate on the nature o fuRulin liczliuan." The central issue was as their model and include a section enti­ whether they should take the Son叉HiVfory tled "Biographies of the Neo-Confucians" ("Daoxue zhuin") and assign other scholars whose

Introduction

125

Rulin waishi be regarded as a counterpart or as an extension o f rhe "Rulin liezhuanwin the zhengshi A nd what enables Rulin waishi co define itself as a waishi, a history beyond the zhengshi? There are some ready answers. One may argue that under the rubric o f RmHo, W u Jingzi covers a much broader range o f literati characters chan found in the "Rulin liezhuan" In fact, few characters depicted in W u s novel can be regarded as "Confucian scholars** in the conventional sense o f the term, as it is used in the zhengshi. T h e novel includes candidates for the civil service examinations, but since they are negative examples o f what Confu­ cian scholars ought not to be, the term "Confucian scholars" has to be taken ironically. In concrasr ro the biographies o f Confucian scholars found in zhengshi, who are noted for their contributions to the preservation, transmis­ sion, and exegesis o f the Confucian classics, Rwlin waishi offers a chronicle o f the literatis utter failure to live up to their expected roles and the inevitable effects o f that failure on society at large. W e may also try to elucidate the novel’s characterization as a waishi by examining its relationship to the compilation o f the M ing History. In terms o f temporal coverage, Rulin waishi deals with almost che entire dynasty and re­ fers frequently to historical figures and events. In a sense, it presents itself not merely as a waishi o f the Rwlm but also as a waishi o f the Ming, in which W u Jingzi offers a different account of, or comments on, the same historical incidents found in the official M ing History.14 For instance, in an apparent ef­ fort to rebut the M in^ History's biography o f W an g Mian, W u Jingzi con­ cluded the introductory chapter o f R«Im waishi by claiming chat W an g Mian died as a recluse: "Curiously enough, writers and scholars nowadays refer to W an g Mian as the advisor [of Z h u Yuanzhang, the founding emperor o f the M ing】, though actually he never served as an official for a single day, as I have tried to make dear” (R, 16; S. 14).15 W u Jingzis insistence on W ang

work was not as "pure" but who contributed to the exegesis of the Confucian classics to the "Rulin zhuan." See Qiao Zhizhong, Qngchao gua»jan^ shixue yanjiu, pp. 85-86. 14. For further disciusion o f this issue, see Roddy, Literati Identity and Its Fictional Represen­ tations in Late Imperial China, pp. 109-29. 15. The biography of Wang Mian in rhe official Mi»£ History ends by claiming that Wang Mian served as an advisor for Zhu Yuanzhang (see Mingshi, p. 7311). This version is

based on Song Lians biography of Wang Mian, which was composed in the early Ming pe­ riod. Zhu Yizun (1629-1709), an early Qing scholar who served on the editorial board of the Mingshi, rejected this account. In his biography of Wang Mian, he portrayed W ang as ^ recluse who never compromised hii personal integrity; Z hu Yizun hoped that the board

126

BEYOND OFF ICIAL H IS TO RY

M ian’s unofficial identity can be taken metaphorically as well: a recluse, prophet, and unwavering critic o f official institutions, W an g Mian comes to symbolize Rulin watshi's individual, nonofficial status. Moreover, by correct­ ing the zhengshi version o f the W a n g Mian biography, W u Jingzi found a most compelling way to stress Rulm waishi s unofficial nature. In its subversion o f the M'mg History's account o f historical characters and incidents, Rulin waishi recalls Nibcidrt waishi. Set in the early M ing period, Nuxian waishi deals with one o f the crucial events in the Ming, the Yongle usurpation, in which the Prince o f Yan (Z h u Di) overthrew the Jianwen emperor and declared himself emperor. Rather than following the official narrative in legitimizing the usurpation, L u Xiong provided a councerfactual account o f how ic might have been put right and the legitimacy o f the M ing court restored. In this imaginary account, the Jianwen emperor survives che Prince o f Yan s pursuit, and the prince himself is constantly challenged both politically and militarily. Interweaving the supernatural into the realm o f the human and combining memory with fantasy, Lii Xiong insisted on using rhe reign title o f the Jianwen emperor throughouc the novel, thus erasing the Yongle era from the M ing chronology. In this w ap Ntixian waishi created its own history o f the M ing as an alternative to the official account. Interest­ ingly enough, since the official

History was still under way, this alterna­

tive and councerfactual waishi was widely circulated among the leading intel­ lectuals o f the time, that is, the generation before W u Jingzi,16 and its adversarial stance against zhengihi may well be reflected in sulin waishi, de­ spite the differences between the two novels in many ocher respects.17

would accept his own version instead: "Since Song Wenxian [LianJ's biography appeared, people have regarded Wang Mian as an advisor [of Zhu Yuanzhang]. But did he ever serve ill this post even for one dzyi Having read Xu Xian's Baisbi jizhuan, I concluded that Wang probably did noc change his mind before he died" (see Li Hanqiu, ed., "Ruiin waishi' yanjiu ziliao, pp. i6 6'67 ). In the introductory chapter of iUin waishi, W u Jingzi followed Zliu Yizun's version and challenged the Ming History account. For further comparison of the exist­ ing Wang Mian biographies, see Roddy, Literati Identity and Its Fictional Representations in Late Imperial China, pp. 113-18. 16. For the coUective commcnraiy on rhe novel, see Lu Xiong, Nuxian waishi. 17. Rulm waisht offers conflicting views of the Yongle usurpation, the central event iii Ntixiaw waishi, but it never endorses any of them. In Chapter 9, we arc told that Yang Zhizhong condemns the Yongle emperor for the Mings failure to live up to Confucian stan­ dards. But in Chapter 29, Du Shenqing claims that the opposite is true: “If Yongle had not stirred up this dynasty, but left the government in tlie hands o f that weakling Jianwen, the empire would now be as weak as in the time of the Six Dynasties" (R, 402; S. 313).

Introduction

127

N o r unlike Nuxian waishi, Rulm waishi diagnoses the defining faults o f the M ing as the cause o f its ultimate downfall. In Chapter 33, C hi Hengshan at­ tributes the degeneration o f society to the founding M ing emperor's negli­ gence of "rites and music/' thereby justifying the urgent need for the Taibo ceremony. It can be argued that Rulin waishi, in a way, presents an ahistorical attempt to redress the literatis failure ro rescore the Confucian ritual and ics consequences.18 Stephen Roddy rightly states rhat by setting the ritual re­ form movement in the Jiajing period, a time o f relative stability in the M ing dynasty, and concluding his novel in the W anli regime, a time o f incipient decline, W u Jingzi offered his own critical comments on the history o f the M ing,19 But this inquiry abour the forces that led to the Ming's demise might also suggest W u ’s view o f his own time. Projecting his fictional alter ego into the Jiajing reign, W u Jingzi seemed to foresee the coming o f the W anli period, when the destined decline becomes reality. Indeed, the official institutions (including the civil service examination system, wich che bagu ex­ amination essays) o f the M ing remained in operation. Song Neo-Confucian discourse was elevated ro the status o f state philosophy* T h e pattern o f che past persisted, and the future was only too predictable. Ic is thus obvious that R«!m waishi does not merely challenge the veracity o f the M ing History's account o f a specific incident or historical figure but suggests a different perspective on the past and reality. W h a t is more important, however, is Rwim waishi's critical reflection on zbcngshis authoritative mode of narrative and normative functions. In fact, the subject o f history comes to the fore in my study o f Rulin waishi because ic is closely connected to the operation o f the orthodox Confucian symbolic order. A s shown in Part I, the Confucian dualistic li is, by nature, narrative or discur­ sive; it draws on the words and deeds o f the sages o f sacrosanct antiquity as its source o f significance. Official historical narrative thus played an essential role in elucidating the Confucian norm through concrete configurations and ex­ amples and by providing access to the valorized pasr— the ultimate reperrory o f value and significance. Confucians regard their own lives as a journey to­ IS. Several eighteenth-century literati novels, including The Humble Words oj an Old Rustic (Ywok puyan), which, like Ru!i« waishi, is set in Ming times, suggest a similar effort to redress the Ming's faults while addressing contemporary bsues. See Martin Huang, Literati and Self Re/Presentation, pp. 75-108. For other studies of puyarts relationship with the official History, see Qian Jingfang, "Ytsou puyan kaoH; and Wang Qiongling, "Yesou puyan*yanjiu, PP*56-70. 19. Roddy, Literati Identity and Itf Fictional Represtntations in Late Imperial China, pp. 111-13.

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ward joining the sages o f the past, and cheir entry into the textual world o f his­ torical narrative serves as the final recognition o f what life has to offer— immortality. But in order to have their life stories included in history, they first have to re-enact the stories o f history in their own lives; their own subjec­ tion to history will, in the end, confirm them as its subject. Historical biogra­ phies represent both the individuals o f the past and the exemplars o f human behavior for all men and women, regardless o f time and place. Accordingly, reading historical Biographies requires emulation in practice: the reader not only defines himself through the lens o f history but also selects an appropriate type o f biography as the model for his own life. It is only through practice that he is able to ensure the continuity o f the narrative past inco the present and so engage the normative in the construction o f reality. History so defined requires an ordering o f events and personas in narra­ tive form. It absorbs a series of incidents inco its preconceived narrative pat­ terns and structures so as to illuminate the moral and cosmic order. Th e genre o f historical chronicle (biannianti) renders individual events in a teleological sequence, and its representation o f history testifies to the significance o f an atemporal moral and cosmic mechanism.20 A s an essential form o f offi­ cial historiography, historical biography (jizhuartti) proceeds from the idea .that history can be illustrated by the examples o f individuals. In collective (biographies those individuals are usually grouped into such established cate­ gories as "good officials/’ ’’harsh officials/' "Confucian scholars/' "chaste women/* and "men o f loyalty and righteousness/' T h ey are regarded both as people living at a particular historical moment and as the embodiment o f certain universal principles and human qualities. Their images are predeter­ mined and disclosed mainly in a single defined direction. Events and sayings are selected from their lives under prescribed rubrics. In most cases, espe-, daily in relatively long biographies, these incidents are arranged chronologi­ cally, with those that occur in youth as explanations for later actions. W ith birth as its point o f departure, exemplary biography treats a life as a tempo­ rally unfolding manifestation o f inner virtue or character, and avoids all the ambiguities, contradictions, and crosscurrents that might obscure its narra­ tive orientation.21 In such a format, "character icself does noc grow, does nor

20. For a further elaboration of this point, see Anthony Yu, ReredtJin尤the Stone, pp. 42-43; and David Der-wei Wang, TictionaJ History / Historical Fiction: pp. 65-66* 21* It would be dangerous to generalize about historical texts that are retrospectively la­ beled as zhengshi. Between the Shiji and the dynastic histories that follow its model there arc

Introduction

129

change," to borrow M . K. Bakhtins comments on one type o f ancient Greek biography; wit is merely filled in: at che beginning it is incomplete, imper­ fectly disclosed, fragmentary; it becomes full and well rounded only at the end. Consequently, the process of disclosing character does not lead to a real change or 'becoming* in historical reality, but rather solely to a fulfillment, that is, to a filling-in o f that form sketched at the very outset/'22 In this sense, historical biographies are ahistorical. T o fulfill its putative functions in the reproduction o f the Confucian norms, Confucian historiography must man­ age to contain flowing, transitory time by assimilating it into the precon­ ceived and highly regulated narrative modes. Since the Confucian dualistic order ofli is constructed through narrative discourse, it is no surprise that in scrutinizing the dualistic li W u Jingzi questioned the narrative o f official history. A s shown above, the first half o f Rwlin waishi deals with, among other things, the problems o f literati dis­ course and self-representation. Although the literati characters are well versed in Confucian rhetoric, they use it merely as a legitimate instrument for social mobility and political gain, and their claim to be Confucian spokesmen turns out to be part o f their social drama o f impersonation and yields nothing but sham and deception. In Rulin waishi's account, the prolif­ eration o f Confucian rhetoric contributes not to the duplication or repro­ duction o f the Confucian norms in sociopolitical life but to its own deflation. A s part o f the repository o f Con/iician discourse, che narrative mode and re­ current motifs of zhen^shi lend themselves to ironic rendering. W u Jingzi was not alone in disparaging the Confucian narrative discourse embodied in zhengshi and other forms. In his own way, he recapitulated the tenor o f ritualism and evidential studies o f the time. Self-proclaimed Confu­ cian fundamentalists, ritualists claimed direct access to moral propriety through their practice o f ancient rituals. Th ey dismissed the Neo-Confucian exegeses o f the Confucian classics and their construction o f the Confucian genealogy as Heterodox— a misleading route by which to pursue the truth.

evident differences in narrative schemes. Although the biographies of Shiji are often laden ■ with conflicting views that preclude any simple conclusions, that is not true of the official his­ toriography o f later periods, which adopts a rigid tone of authoritative narrative. 22. Here I have borrowed Bakhtin's comments on the Plutarchian biographical type (The Dialogic Imagination, pp. 141-42). For a systematic survey of the way Ming and Qing fiction commentators use the model of biographical narrative in their approach to the ver­ nacular novels of the time, see Rolston, ed., Traditional Chinese Fiction and Fiction Commentary, pp. i j i - 65.

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However, it was the philologists o f the early and mid-Qing period who took concrete steps toward undermining the textual, discursive ground upon which Neo-Confucianism rests. W ell equipped with the tools o f etymology, phonology, and historical linguistics, they developed a historical approach in their studies o f che ancient texts. Th ey explored the meanings obscured and distorted by later interpreters and revealed the circumstances under which the texts were compiled, shaped, transmitted, and interpreted. Instead o f taking these writings as given, they traced their complex textual history o f errors, corruption, fraud, and forgery and thus cast doubt on their integrity and authenticity. T h e best example o f early and mid-Qing textual criticism o f the Confucian classics can be found in the evidential studies o f the Book o f Documents (Sbangshu), a collection o f the official documents o f antiquity, which had long been regarded as one o f the Confucian classics. A s Song Necn Confucians elaborated their concept of/t or moral principle, they drew heav­ ily on the section about "the mind o f man (renxin) and mind o f way. (Daoxm)>, in the **Dayu mo〃chapter o f the O ld Text Documents. But Yan Ruoju, based on solid evidential research, showed that this section was adopted from a passage in X unzi that was in turn quoted from the Daojing (Classic o f the W a y). In other words, it was a forgery, produced much later than ics assumed date o f composition. Yan was so vigorous in questioning rhe authenticity o f the Old T ex t Documents chac he spared none o f the twenty-five O ld Text chapters from his scrutiny.23 Small surprise that his research provoked immediate controversies among the scholars o f the day, but Yan also found allies in such scholars as H ui Dong (1 6 9 7 -1 7 5 8 ), who had raised similar questions about the O ld T ext Documents before reading Y a n s work. T h e eighteenrh-cenruiy scholarship on The Documents advanced the pursuit o f objectivity and the cause o f skepticism in academic research. In the following century, when the Confucians o f the N e w T ext school, such as Zhuan g Cunjoi (1 7 1 9 -8 8 ), Liao Ping (1 8 5 1 -1 9 3 2 ), and Kang Youwei (1 8 5 8 -1 9 2 7 ), tried co come up wirh a radical vision o f Confucianism in coping with the crisis o f their time, they resorted to the evidential study o f the Old T ext Documents and used it as a weapon against the Confucian orthodoxy,24 Elman is correct in arguing thac the N ew Text scholars* political chal­ lenge to the O ld T ext orthodoxy was, in a way, che logical extension o f

23. Yan Ruoju, Shanshu guwen shuzhett^, juan 1, pp. 47-48. 24. Elman, From Philosophy to Philology, pp. 207-11.

Introduction

131

eighteenth-century philological study to political issues, since "Kang Y ouwei's radical Confucian response to the influx o f W estern ideas in the late nineteenth century would not have taken the form that it did had not the O ld Text versions o f the Classics been partially discredited.

However, we

do not have to wait till the nineteenth century to see the implications o f the evidential study. In the eighteenth century, philologists duly facilitated the cause o f ritualism by undercutting the Neo-Confucian norms based on the unexamined, questionable versions o f the Confucian texts. T h e ritualists were bold in moralizing. In response to the crisis o f the late Ming, they de­ manded an immediate return to che ancient rituals and institutions as a way o f revitalizing classic Confucianism, which they believed had long been ne­ glected. But in envisioning this alternative Confucian practice, thejf had to repudiate Neo-Confucian discourse. A nd evidential scholars did this through their relentless textual studies and historical research. Whatever their intentions might have been, they often ended up casting doubt: on what had formerly been unquestionable. A s a result, the ancient Confucian texts, in the form in which they were handed down from the past, could no longer be taken for granted as the infallible source o f timeless moral truth. Instead, they were subject to ferocious historical examination and textual analysis. It would be wrong to reduce Ruim waishi to the objectives o f ricualism and evidential study o f the time, but in writing the novel W u Jingzi found his own way to engage these issues. H e shared with the ritualists a strong moralizing zeal, and in his novel we see an unmistakable urge to repudiate inflated Confucian rhetoric. Instead o f questioning the textual authenticity o f the Confucian classics, however, W u Jingzi exposed the falsity and the lack o f sincerity in the literatis speeches, writings, and self-represencarion. A n d more often than any ofhis contemporaries, he emphasized the deepening discrepancy between word and deed in the elite’s sociopolitical lives, as well as the inadequacy o f Confucian narrative discourse to make sense o f the actual experience. In Rulin waish i, the narrative mode o f official history does not serve as the organizational framework; instead, it is itself represented in the novel and becomes an objecc o f scrutiny. Rulin waishi is remarkably adept in navigating a new horizon o f worldly experience that defies this inherited mode and the expectations that accompany it. Under the rubric waishi, W u Jingzi provided what might be called a secular history, in which he introduced a temporal 25. Ibid., pp. 22-26 ;quotation at p. 25.

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tenor to his own representation o f history.26 M ore specifically, he brought the erosions o f time to bear on his account o f the deterioration o f literati mores and ethos, and his narrative takes on the attributes o f the secular time it presents. Like the flux o f worldly affidrs, this secular narrarive defies dosure, permits no conclusive judgments, and resists reduction to the precon­ ceived structures o f historical narrative* Instead o f being undertaken from the central, fixed viewpoint o f rhe zhtngshit it generates shifting perspectives, for examining the role-cypes its characters assume or claim and exposes the narrative mechanics that make their stories possible in rhe z h c n ^ h u

26. Here Zhang Xucchcng (1738-1801) and hu elaborations of the Confucian classics and history in Wcmhi tongyi (The complementary meaning of literature and history) arc relevant. Despite his reservations about the contemporary trend to philological evidential studies, Zhang best summed up the revolutionary result of evidential discourse in his famous declara^ tion "The Six Classics are all histories/' Although this statement can be traced to earlier thinkers such as Li Z h i and Wang Shizhen, it acquired new meaning and significance by cap* turing the historical orientation chat dominated cightccnth-ccnmry studies of the Confucian classics. More specifically by establishing an equation between the Classics and histories, Zhang, not unlike many contemporary evidential scholars, was able to restore a sense of time to tht Classics. In this account, the sages of the antiquity did not deliberately compose the Classics as such. What later came to be called the Classics preserved no more chan the rttracesw(ji) o f ancient institutions and practices; they were only gradually sep^uted from his' tory, the generic tradition to which they belonged, and acquired the status o f Classics. For in­ stance, Zhang argued that the thriving of private learning contributed to rhe formarion o f the Classics, and there were, in (2ctr no Classics until after the exegeses {^uan) of tht ancient texts had become a popular practice* H e went as far as to claim that most of the Classics, as they were passed down to the later generations^ were originally exegeses rhemselvcs, and they were recognized as Classics only after the original Classics had been lost. By dclineacLng chis complex process throu^i which the Classics were shaped and transformed, Zhang developed what Wang Hui describes as *thc archeology o f the Glassies4 (jmpcwe He challcn^d his contemporaries to seriou^l^ consider time 2nd historical change in their own con­ ceptualizations o f Confucian norms, knowledge systems, and history For more on Zhang Xuecheng, see chap. 5 in Wang H uis forthcoming Zfcon^guo xiandai sixiangdt xingqu

C H A P T E R

4

H istory a n d T im e:

Zhengshi As R ep resen ted in Rulin waishi

A s noted in the Introduction to this part, W u Jingzi often refused to follow the conventional model o f biographical narrative. On the few occasions when he resorted to that model, he seemed interested more in exposing its problems than in using it co make sense o f his characters. In Chapters 15 and i6t for example, he introduced Kuang Chaoren as a filial son, but as the story progresses, the filial son outgrows his initial role and degenerates into its an­ tithesis. W u represented Kuang as engaged in an unfinished process o f be­ coming: he took Kuang past the point where the biography o f a filial son normally ends, subjected him to the corrosive influences o f time, and al­ lowed his mundane pursuits to reshape his character and destiny. In the end, W u 's portrait o f Kuang illustrates the limits o f biographical narrative in comprehending a man's transformation and degeneration— it marks the end o f the exemplary biography.

Beyond the E xem plary Biography

In a

novel known for its fragmentary episodes and its rapid shifts from one

character to another, the story o f Kuang Chaoren (literally, "Extraordinary Kuang" or "T h e Kuang W h o Surpasses Others") is an exception: running from Chapters 15 through 20, ic is rhe longest treatment o f an individual character in the novel. Introduced as a filial son in Chapters 15 and 16, Kuang is blessed with a series o f successes in the civil service examinations, and at

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the end of the passage he is on his way to court to take up an official ap­ pointment. But the closer he comes to success, the further he deviates from the image o f a filial son, a Confucian icon from rhe official biographies* In: contrast to rhe standard biography o f filial son, which concludes with the sons receiving a reward from the authorities, the main stoty about Kuang does not begin until after he is acknowledged as a filial son* A s indicated in the headnote to Chapter i6, _’A filial son waits upon his father in Big W illow Village* / A good magistrate encourages a poor scholar in Yueqing County,’ that chapter begins with an account o f Kuang faithfully attending his ailing father, despite adversities, including a fire that destroys his parents' house. T h e second half o f the chapter describes the county mag­ istrate's chance discovery o f Kuang; the magistrate not only encourages Kuang to take the civil service examinations but also reports the youths filial conduct to the examiner. Th e story o f Kuangs success begins on the night the county magistrate happens to pass through the village. O ne night he had read till nearly midnight, and was declaiming a bagu examination essay with great gusto when he heard gongs sound outside the window and saw a sedan chair pass, surrounded by torches and followed by outriders. H e knew this must be the county magistrate, but Kc went on reading aloud while the parry passed. N o w the magistrate decided co spend the night in the village office; he marveled co himself: “H o w remarkable to find a man studying so hard late at night in a little country place like tKist I wonder whether Ue is a successful candidate or 2. student? W h y not send for the headman co find out?” H e forthwith sent for M r. Pan and asked him, “W h o is it thac studies at night in that house near rhe monastery, south o f the village^ T h e headman knew that this was where the K uang family lived, "T h eir house was burned dow n/’ he explained, uso thej^ rented a place there. T h e man studying is O ld K u an gs second son, K uan g Chaoren, who reads every night till well after midnight. H e is not a scholar, though, nor even a student, but simply a small tradesman." T h e magistrate was impressed, "H ere is my card/1 he said. rtT ak c it to M t, K u an g tom orrow, and tell him I shall not ask to sec him now; but the pre­ liminary test is near and he should register for it* I f he can write csszys,

111do

what I

can for him," (R. 231—32; S. 185-86)

T h is is apparently a simple story about a good magistrate discovering a filial son* But a closer inspection reveals something different. Th e scene in which Kuang Chaoren reads aloud the bagu examination essays beside rhe bed o f his invalid father is ironically anticipated bp the advice that M a Chunshang, an editor o f such essays, gives him in Chapter 15:

and 丁 fme: Zhengshi As Represented in Rulin waishi

J35

If you take my advice, after you reach home you should consider passing the official examinations as the most important way of pleasing your parents

If you are bril­

liant enough to pass the examinations, you immediately reflect credit upon youv whole family Thac is why rhe Classic of Filial Piety tells us that to reflect credit on your family and to spread your fame shows the greatest piety. A t the same time, of course, you do very well for yourself* As the proverb says: There are golden man­ sions in study; there arc bushels of rice and beautiful women* And what is study to­ day if not our anthologies of bagu essays? So when you go back to look after your parents, you must consider study for the examinations of prime importance* Even if your business does badly and you cannot give your father and mother all they want, that need not worry you. Writing compositions is the main thing* For when your father lies ill in bed with nothing to eat and hears you declaiming the bagu essays, no doubt about it but his heart will rejoice, his sadness will disappear, and his pain will pass away. This is whac Zcngzi meant when he spoke of pleasing the parents- (K* 219-20 ; S, 176)1

M a Chunshangs advice puts the Kuang Chaoren episode in an entirely new light; it predisposes us to read rhe rest o f the,story from M a s perspective and question Kuang’s motivation and apparent innocence* A t his first ap­ pearance in Chapter 15, Kuang, then an innocent village boy, is reading the anthology o f bagu examination essays compiled by M a Chunshang; on the night when he attracts the magistrate's attention, he is following M a's advice and declaiming the bagu essays. A s the narrative proceeds, Kuang reads him­ self deeply into M a s books, only to emerge from them with his personality and mentality transformed, A close reading o f this scene evokes a sense o f irony: on hearing che sound o f gongs outside, Kuang "knew this musr be the county magiscrare, but he went on reading aloud while the parry passed•” Ostensibly concentrating on his reading, he is nevertheless aware that he may be overheard by an impor­ tant personage,

using the expression ziranshi (this musr be), the narrator

presents this as Kuang’s speculation rather than his own judgment. Kuang may read the essay as loudly as before, but his purpose in doing so becomes suspect* T h e irony becomes all the more apparent when we realize that the scene is derived from an anecdote about obscure young scholars currying favor with X u Qianxue, an official of the Kangxi era (1662-1722), who was known for discovering and promoting unknown talents: 1* Zcngzi, a disciple of Confucius, was known for his filial piety.

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All the young men who sought to advance their careers rented rooms near the lane in which he [Xu Qianxue] was living. They did not start declaiming poems and es­ says until early morning, when Xu set out ro the court for the morning session, so chat they could be sure he would hear their reciting* After several days of this behav­ ior, Xu would definitely seek them out; if they had special talents, he would spread good opinions about them and recommend them. As a result, rents for the houses near the lane were twice zs high as those for other houses.2 T h e discovery o f "unknown talents" turns out to be a conspiracy o f consent between these young opportunists and X u Qianxue, who made his name by rewarding and promoting them. For the landlords, it is an opportunity for higher profits. Although none o f the participants is as naive as he pretends, it is their pretended innocence that makes the game possible. W u Jingzi did not copy this anecdote or narrate the story o f Kuang and the county magis­ trate sarcastically, but his rendering of Kuangs brief pause during his recita­ tion creates a moment o f doubt in the reader. A s in the anecdote o f X u Qianxue, the point is fame and the opportunity to win it. W u Jingzi, in his ironic portrayals o f his characters' hypocrisy, ignorance, and narrow-mindedness, made frequent use o f anecdotes and jokes from both written and oral sources. According to Zh ao Y i (1 7 2 7 -1 8 1 4 ), the anec­ dote about X u Qianxue had circulated among scholars o f previous genera­ tions before he wrote it down in Yanpu zaji. Other examples of passages in waishi based on anecdotes are the one about Fan Jin, an imperial exam­ iner, who has never heard o f Su Shi, a famous literatus o f the Song dynasty (in Chapter 7); and the one about Yan Dayu (Yan Zhihe, who bought for himself the rank o(jiansheng— imperial college student), in the last moments o f his life, "stretching out two fingers and refusing to breathe his last" be­ cause he is worried that "there are two wicks in the lamp— thac is a waste o f oil" (in Chapters 5 and 6),3 2. Zhao Yi, Yanpu zaji. See Li Hanqiu, ed., "Rh1i« waishi" yanjiu ziliao, p. 180. 3. Students of KmIiw waishi have collected all the available sources for the jokes and anec­ dotes in the novel. The Yan Dayu episode apparently derives from an anecdote about an ava­ ricious Yangzhou merchant. When Ruan Kuisheng recorded it in his Chayu kehua (juan 15, p. 465), evidently after W u Jingzis death, he explained that he had first heard it from Wu Shanting (Wu Lang), W u Jingzis son. What is interesting about this account is that Wu Shanting claimed to have witnessed the incident. There are two possible explanations: either W u Jingzi heard the story from his son and then integrated it into his own narrative of Yan Dayu, or the soil related a story his father had written and claimed that it was based on his own eyewitness account.

H istory and Time: Zhengshi As Represented in Rulin waishi

137

It is hard to generalize about the rhetorical effect that W u Jingzi achieved by working those borrowed jokes and anecdotes into his novel. In most cases they are introduced with a sense o f proportion and detachment; irony is generated by the characters' words and deeds or by the discrepancies be­ tween the two, rather than by rhe narrarors witty commencs. Only occa­ sionally are che jokes blown out o f proportion and developed into farcical, scenes with a note o f burlesque and buffoonery. Yet it is not difficult to un­ derstand their functions in rhe thematic and narrative design o f Rulm waishi. Anecdotes and jokes are fragmentary; they are not constrained by specific context, nor are they subordinated to the larger design o f plot. It is hard to stretch them into a longer and more coherent narrative or to build an exem­ plary biographical narrative upon them; instead, anecdote "introduces an opening into the teleological, and therefore, timeless, narrative of beginning, middle, and e n d ? it opens up the possibility o f alternative interpretations o f historical and biographical narratives. T h e anecdote abour X u Qianxue al­ lows an ironic glimpse o f what is happening baclcsrage that ruins the effects o f the moral drama thac dominates the historical and biographical imagina­ tion. In similar fashion, W u Jingzis rendering o f che Kuang Chaoren epi­ sode generates a moment o f hesitation chac disrupts the otherwise seemingly unproblematic narrative o f how a filial son is "discovered*' by the authorities. Immediately after Kuangs success in the civil service examination is an episode involving Kuangda, Kuang Chaorens older brother. In its own way, this passage subjects the story o f Filial Kuang to an alternative but no less damaging reading. Even before Kuang Chaoren has realized what he can do wich his newly acquired fame, Kuangda has taken full advantage o f his posi­ tion as the brother o f an officially recognized filial son. In an incident in Chapter 17, Kuangda becomes involved in a quarrel with a fellow villager over a stand in the marketplace. A s the quarrel explodes into a fight, he threatens to drag his rival to court: "'The Magistrate is a friend o f my brother’s!’ he shouted. ’Think Im afraid o f you? Let’s go to the yamen” ’ (R. 236; S. 188). Kuangda never shows any understanding or appreciation o f his brother’s virtue. H e is, in a way, a "bad" reader o f his brother's story, for all he sees in it are fame, power, and connections that he can use to his own ad­ vantage. W h a t he has to say of his brother tells us about himself— a shame-

4* See Joel Fineman, wThe History of the Anecdote/' p* 61* Fincman uses the term 'the history of the anecdote" in characterizing the new historicism and the problems it raises*

Ij8

BEYOND OFFICIAL HISTORY

less scoundrel who perceives things through the lens ofh is own self-interest. However, for all the distortions o f the lens, he does see in his brother's story the benefits that come with official recognition. Th e significance o f introducing Kuangda's view is especially evident when we compare it wirh the usual narrative paradigm o f the biography o f the filial son. T h e official biography often ends with the son’s being rewarded

the

authorities as a matter of justice. But the concept o f justice as practiced in the real world is inseparable from the distribution and redistribution o f po­ litical, economical, and symbolic resources. A t stake in any official recogni­ tion are status, prestige, and political affiliation. Unlike the official historians, who eschew subjects that might-distract them from their coherent stories about Confucian piety, W u Jingzi created a low character who has no place in official history and is not obliged to see his brother as an exemplary char­ acter, In Kuangdas eyes, his brother is someone with enough political pull to cow his fellow villagers. This is one case, I shall argue, in which W u Jingzi demonstrated that Rufin waishi is truly an outer history^ he defined a view­ point beyond the zhengshi from which to scrutinize its exemplary biographies and showed that their apparent unity and coherence are achieved by repres­ sion and exclusion. Granted, Kuangda is merely making an assertion, but it constitutes part o f the discourse thac dictates his brothers behavior, A character who adapts to his immediate environment, Kuang CHaoren is so often contin­ gent on public perception and expectation that he tends to merge inro the image projected on him from without. In Chapter 20, when Kuang Chaoren visits his in-laws' home as a candidate for an official post, he speaks to Kuangda in the language that his brother ;himself has used: "W hen you go back you must tell the villagers to address you as 'Sir' (laoye). W e ll have to live in style and keep up appearances" (R. 277;

5 . 204).

Kuang

Chaoren's concern with titles and forms o f address echoes the moment in Chapter 3 when Butcher H u addresses Fan Jin, his son-in-law, as uSirM (laoye), immediately after rhe latter passes the provincial examination. Ear­ lier in the same chapter, Butcher H u makes a similar speechron the rever­ ence that a gentleman deserves when celebrating Fan Jin's success in the county examinations, which qualifies Fan for the title o f gentleman (xianggong). In creating a network o f correspondences and echoes among his characters, W u Jingzi liberated the filial son character from the rigid, selfcontained form o f the exemplary biography, placed him in a larger com­

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munity o f popular opinions and mundane affiliations, and highlighted their enormous influence on his character and orientation. Th e only permanent trait we discern in Kuang Chaoren is his constant adjustment to whatever circles he happens co associate with. A s he moves from one pla.ee to another, his character undergoes drastic alterations, each new personality seeming to have little memory o f the old. Such multifaceted complexity and mutability are hardly conceivable in the framework o f the traditional biographical narrative. One may well argue that the changes Kuang Chaoren undergoes fulfill a narrative function rather than exemplify­ ing discrete phases in the history o f an individual. T h e need for such a char­ acter is evident in W u Jingzis representation o f a Hangzhou literati world split b y facrionalism- Kuang is the only character in this world with access to a variety o f literati and nonliterati circles, and his constant shuttling between them Kelps to establish the connections and contrasts among the individuals within them. But Kuang is no mere device in the larger design o f the novel; he is a fully fledged character. W u Jingzi s use o f Kuang as a narrative instrument in rhe Hangzhou story does not necessarily deprive him o f the sense o f concreteness essential to his characterization. Granted, in most parts o f the Hangzhou story Kuang remains a silent observer. W h en speaking, he weighs his words with care and says only what he believes appropriate, lest he embarrass him­ self. Dealing with unfamiliar people in a new place, he needs the guidance, pa­ tronage, and authority that his own impoverished personality and experience can hardly provide. T h e key ro understanding Kuangs metamorphosis lies in his relation to and interaction with the characters o f the Hangzhou circles; he goes from observing them to identifying entirely with them in word and ac­ tion. Th is is a story about imitation, impersonation, and the role o f the social relationship in the making o f an individuals character. One literatus whom Kuang Chaoren encounters in his first visit to Hangzhou is M a Chunshang, from whom he learns the distorted view o f fil­ ial piety that sets the Kuang Chaoren story aparc from the exemplary biog­ raphy o f the filial son. A s an editor o f

essays and a candidate for the ex­

aminations, M a Chunshang is an example o f how a man's entire life and imagination can be dominated b y the examination system. In Chapter 1$, he gives Q u Gongsun a lecture about the history o f Confucians in terms o f the civil service examinations (juye). H e sees the Coniucian sages' exemplary lives as consisting o f single-minded devotion to their official careers; Confu-

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ciuss moralistic discourse and che Neo-Confucians* high-minded philoso­ phy become mere instruments to gain official rank. About the civil examina­ tion system in his time, he says: "Even Confucius, if he were alive today, would be studying bagu essays and preparing for the examinations instead o f saying, 'Make few false statements and do Htrle you may regret/ W h y? I f he had kept talking like that every day, then who would give him an official positionr (R, 190; S. 151). This utilitarian version o f Confucian history reflects the ;mentality o f the ba^u essayists and civil officials, which affects their be­ havior and helps to shape the world in which they live. Tendentious as it may-be, M a s narrative o f Confucian history does capture the aspects that Confucians have either excluded from their historical narrative or disguised with moralistic rhetoric. T h e M a Chunshang episode indicates the consequences o f his preoccu­ pation with the bagu composition by allowing a glimpse o f the internal ten­ sions o f his character_ the conflicts between his narrow-mindedness and his generosity, and the inconsistencies in his explicit statements, thoughts, and suppressed impulses. In the well-known scene o f M a Chunshang's visit to W est Lake in Chapter 14, the narrator highlights an ironic contrast be­ tween what M a sees and what he refuses to see or pretends not to have seen: lacking any interest in the scenic places, M a is frequently lured away by the taverns along the lakeshore that offer wine and meat he can ill af­ ford. Similarly, the account o f his tour o f the lake shows through his e^es the images o f women on a pilgrimage— their facial features, hairstyles, and sensational dresses— but tells us that he "strides past with lowered head, not casting so much as a glance at all these beauties”

(R,

205; S. 1 6 2 ).5

Like Z h o u Jin and Fan Jin as portrayed in previous chapters, M a is an­ other distorted soul under the yoke o f official institutions and the examina­ tion culture. A s an infectious character, M a Chunshang plays a crucial role in forming Kuang Chaorens mentality. In a sense, it is M a who introduces Kuang ro the scene and provides him with the guidance he needs for his own story. M a Chunshang's advice flatly contradicts the deathbed admonitions o f Kuang's father, a simple villager: “Fame and fortune are external things, after all; it’s goodness that really counts. Y ou have been a good son and a loyal brother when ir wasn't easy, and I don't want you to change and start think­

5. For an insiglitfiil reading of this episode, see Yue Hengjun, "Ma Chunshang zai Xihu,”

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ing yourself high and mighty now that things are going more smoothly for you* (R, 239; S. 191), T h e fathers fear that success will ruin his sons character is presented as a prediction: Kuang Chaoren will act out the vision that M a Chunshang has projected for him and become exactly what his father hoped he would not be. T h e second time Kuang Chaoren travels to Hangzhou, he encounters another circle o f lirerari— self-described men o f culture, or mingshi, who are interested merely in such "refined affairs'

as writing poetry. H e im­

mediately realizes rhat despite their self-proclaimed detachment from official affairs, they are no less enthusiastic about seeking fame (mm^) than the bagu essayists are about seeking profits (If). For all their contempt for the essayists, they never miss a chance to brag about their connections with degreeholders and high-ranking officials. Poetry, as the^ admit, is an effective means o f making these connections* A s it turns our, the men o f culture and the bagu essayists have more in common than either is willing to acknowl­ edge* Hiding their worldly desires under the guise of culture, the self-styled poets exhibit a pretension and hypocrisy comparable to that o f bagu essayists like W an g De and W an g Ren, who disguise their mundane agenda with moralistic rhetoric. Th e Kuang Chaoren story sums up the intriguing relationship between the essayists and the poets that is central to W u Jingzis portrayal o f the literari in Rulin waishi T o a lirerarus, the bagu essay and p o etry are irreconcilable genres* T h e bagu essay offers a model o f writing characterized by Zh o u Dunjd (10 17-73), a Neo-Confucian scholar, as the conveyance o f rhe Dao yi zai dao). But in Rulin waishi and much other contemporaiy literati writing, it is described as having degenerated because o f its utilitarian functions in promoting career advancement- However, W u Jingzi was not inclined toward poetry as rhe better option; in his account poetry is too com­ promised and affords no space for the freedom o f individual taste, aesthetic imagination and genuine feeling. A s noted above, it had become so conven­ tionalized and so deeply implicated in worldly affairs that D u Shenqing, a poet and a cultured man, has to distinguish himself from his fellow poets by ridiculing their suggestion to compose poetry at the social gatherings they attend 35 'so refined as to be vulgar'(几 400; S. 321). In Chapters 10 and 11, W u Jingzi suggested an even worse vision: a com­ bination o f the bagu essay and poetry. In a comic tone, he portrayed a marriage between Q u Gongsun, who joins his fellow poets in belittling the bagu

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essay, and Miss Lu, who has been trained b y her father to write the bagu es­ say and who considers all writings unrelated to the examinations trifling and pointless. T h e marriage, which is frustrating co both o f them, is meant to embody, in Theodore H uterss words, a "claustrophobic binary opposition" between two incompatible modes o f writing and existence.6 However, the Kuang episode suggests that the rwo modes are never truly divorced from each other. In fact, those self-proclaimed poets can barely distinguish poetry from essays in idiom, grammar, and style, and their poems, much to Kuangs astonishment, are replete with so many function words such as "moreover" (gie/u) and "it was once said" (changwei) cribbed from hagu essays and exege­ ses o f the Confucian classics thac even Kuang, a novice poet, "feels thac his own effort is in no way inferior to theirs" (R. 255; S. 208). Likewise, Q u s es­ says, composed at the request o f his father-in-law, "were full o f words and phrases pillaged from poems, a line here resembling Q u Y uan’s Ltsao and a line there reminiscent o f the early philosophers" (R. 157-58; S. 12$). Kuang Chaoren’s association with the poets and bagu essayists suggests the dreadful scenario chat occurs when both are combined in one person一 a scenario Kuang comes to embody. T h e narrative o f K uangs third trip to Hangzhou in Chapter 10 leads to his self-representarion: a petty-minded status seeker equipped with the ca­ pacities o f a liar, braggart, and hypocrite, Kuang begins to demonstrate what he has just learned from his mentors and patrons一 both the essayists and the poets. Looking forward to an official appointment, Kuang has no inter­ est in meeting with Jing Lanjiang, one o f the poets, or with Jiang, a yamen clerk, for they recall his own past, which he now wants to leave behind him. In the restaurant, he starts the conversation by bragging about the prestige his official appointment will bring him_ a deliberate strategy ro secure a psychological advantage over Jing, who has neither an official tide nor a de­ gree. T h e irony is that when adding concrete details to his story, Kuang sounds just like Jing Lanjiang flaunting his associations with all the impor­ tant figures o f the region. Jing is introduced in Chapter 17 as a braggart who

6* Theodore Huters, "The Shattered M irror/ pp. 278-81* Huters notes that W u Jingzis critkjue o f both modes seems to have Uft him no sp^cc to define his own writing; "The sd£consciousness W u gained through describing the impasse that writers face provided a crucul critical space. It is by its very nature aporctic, since he portrayed a literary drena in which there was no place for the very platform he was writing from" (p*

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initiates Kuang into the practice o f boasting about himself. W h a t Jing says is either self-defeating exaggeration or pure fiction undercut

the informa­

tion we glean from other sources. So, too, is Kuangs account o f his imagined glory, for if judged by common sense it is absurd, and it is left unconfirmed by W u Jin gzis narrator. In Rulm waishi an unconfirmed self-representation is immediately suspect. Kuang Chaoren not only outdoes Jing Lanjiang in boasting but also shrewdly cites official duties in his own defense. W h en Jing chastises him for not paying a visit to a former patron, Pansan, who is in jail, Kuang re­ sponds: •It’s 2 pity hcs in chis fix!" slid Kuang,

*1would have gone to the jail to see him, but

my position has changed. As a servant of the throne I have to abide hy the law; and to call on him in such a place would show no respect for the law.” T o u are not z lo­ cal official," countered Jing, "and you would only be visiting a friend. Whac harm can there be in chat?" "Gentlemen," said Kuang, "I shouldn’t say this, but to friends it doesn't matter. In view of what our friend Pan has done, if I had been in office here I would have had to arrest him. If I were to go to the prison to call on him, it would look 3S if I disapproved of the sentence. This is not the way of i loyal sub­ ject." (R .279;S. 215-26) Kuangs use o f official rhetoric invites an ironical reading, for the previous chapter shows the degree to which he was involved in rhe crimes with which Pansan is charged; it was Kuangs fear o f being implicated in the criminal case chat drove him from Hangzhou in the first place. Here as elsewhere in Rwtin waishi, official rhetoric is undermined by the speaker's motives- In Chapter 6 , Yan Dawei (Yan Gongsheng or senior licentiate Yan) uses che civil, service examinations as an excuse for missing the funeral rites for his brother: *A s the ancient saying put it, 'Public business comes before private affairs. T h e stare comes before the family/ O ur examinations are a great affair o f state, and since we were busy on state business, even if we had ro neglect our own family members we need feel no compunction' (R. 86; S. 6 5 65). H is eloquent self-justification reveals not merely the incompatibility o f private virtue and an official career but the potential contradictions in che offtcial promotion o f Confucian family piety. T h is becomes even more evident m the Kuang Chaoren episode. H is pretext o f official duty as self-defense turns out to be a moment o f betrayal. T h e exemplary narrative of the filial son from which his initial image derived has broken down: Kuang has cho­

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sen official rhetoric over private virtue and betrayed what he is supposed to stand for. W oven through the Kuang Chaoren episode is the theme o f books, read­ ing, writing, and editing. Kuang is initially a diligent reader and an obedient student, yet after successfully following M a Chunshangs advice, he begins to sneer at those less successful, including M a himself. Commenting on M a s ba^i essays, he says, "Although he understands the rules, he lacks genius, and therefore his books dont sell too'.weir (几 280; S. 223), which is an ironic in­ version o f Ma's remarks on Kuang's bagu composition during their first meeting.7 O n his way to the capital city to take an official appointment, Kuang no longer needs M a s books as guides. Instead, he begins to claim the role o f author for himself, creating not merely bagu anthologies but also rhe stories about their popularity, as well as the imagined glory o f his own suc­ cess. In the last scene of che episode, Kuang brags to the other travelers: “T o tell you the truth, gentlemen, scholars o f the five northern provinces respect my name so highly that they often light incense and tapers to me on their desk, calling me 'Master Kuang o f sacred memory' (xianru)" (R. 280; S. 227), In "telling the truth" about his success, Kuang projects himself into a sce­ nario often seen in conventional biographies of distinguished scholars, not realizing that, as one traveler inconveniently points out, “Only the dead are described as "of sacred memory.’ ” Kuang is also a master o f forgery. O f the things he does for Pansan, rwo mark a new stage in his self-invention: in exchange for money, he forges offi­ cial seals and letters and takes the civil service examinations in someone else’s place. Such acts o f forgery and impersonation go beyond any preconceived narrative form and create a permanent distance between his name and iden­ tity, as well as between what he says and what he does. T o avoid embar­ rassment over his wife's humble background, Kuang hides his marital status; later he marries the daughter o f his superior, an official in charge o f the ex­ aminations, and cites The Lute (P ip a ji) to himself in justification: "There is an opera about Cai the Num ber One Scholar (Cai

2 huangyuan) who had

two wives; and it was considered a great romance. W h at can it matter?" (R* 2 7 5 -76 ; S. 223). T h e textual precedent Kuang cites is appropriate but not for the reason he gives. The Lute is noc a romance, as Kuang claims; instead, it is

7. Ma Chunshang comiiients on KuangCliaorens essay in Chapter 15: 'Tour essay shows talent, but you arc nor sufficiently familiar with the method of reasoning" (R. 218; S. 175),

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a story o f bigamy and betrayal, and Cai is a problematic character unworthy o f imitation. But this matters little to Kuang: in creating his own romance, he has the liberty to choose models for himself and interpret them as he pleases. H e is no longer loyal to any specific text or any preordained role. H is self- representation eludes the control o f any established narrative form, parcicularly the exemplary biography o f che filial son.

Secular T im e, Secular H istory H o w did W u Jingzi describe the metamorphosis of Kuang and explain the different stages o f his personal history as well as their interrelationships? Commenting on this episode, C . T , Hsia writes: "The story o f Kuang Chaoren is extremely interesting, but it is told in such a way that we are never allowed a glimpse o f his mental condition as things happen to him. For many readers it will remain puzzling that a filial son o f apparent moral integrity could have degenerated so fast,’8 Puzzled by the same question, some commentators try to detect the seed o f Kuang*s degradation in the nar­ rative o f his early life in hopes of grasping a sense of continuity beneath the story. Yet in so doing, they seem to reaffirm the generic logic o f the bio­ graphical narrative, which W u Jingzi refused to follow. W e are brought back to the central issue o f this chapter: H o w did W u Jingzi construct his history, both collective and individual, and explain its driving forces and ics tendency to degeneration;? T h e answer lies, I suggest, in W u Jingzis treatment o f time. H e breaks with the biographical tradition o f using timeless character types to mirror unchanging moral verities. In the story o f Kuang Chaoren, he summoned the filial son from the pages o f zhengshi onlj^ to show him transformed be­ yond recognition. T h e Kuang episode confirms the status o f the filial son as a product o f narrative construction separate from temporal transformation, which few, if any, pre-existing narratives had managed to capture. A n exile from historical biography, Kuang drifts along, allowing his current pursuits to define his mentality and guide his destiny. In emphasizing the importance o f the temporal dimension in human experience, W u Jingzi did not, how­ ever, necessarily regard Kuangs past as the cause o fh is present actions. In­ stead, he portrayed him as living permanently in che present, with little

8. C. T. Hsia, The Classic Chinese Novel, p. 229,

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memory o f his own pasr, let alone his origins. Rootless and restless, he is driven by the temporal flux. Although the Kuang Chaoren episode is the longest narrative in the book about an individual character, it nevertheless follows the general pattern that governs the greater part o f the novel. A s the story unfolds, the narrator keeps shifting his focus from one character1 to another; rather than representing a life in its entirety or from its very beginning, he catches only one or two o f its passing moments. T h e character's past is left in the back­ ground or simply omitted, as is his future; the present moment is neither lo­ cated nor understood in its relationship to the past and future. A life with­ out beginning or end can hardly be presented in the conventional form o f biography: W u Jingzis narrative o f a specific character often begins in medias res and ends not with a sense o f closure but with unresolved questions about the past and future. In analyzing J?u(m waishi's narrative rhetoric, Marston Anderson focuses on its affinity for metonymy, for it is "through the series o f syncagmatic link­ ages governed by the trope o f mecon^mjf rhat the text establishes its tempo­ ral dynamic/ For the purposes o f this study, it is more important to under­ stand the novel’s rendering o f time in its account o f what might be called secular history, W u Jingyi perceived the world o f mundane experience tem­ porally, as an unfolding sequence o f incidents, related or unrelated, driven by worldly desires and official institutions. Th is sequence, once set in motion, develops into an irreversible current with tremendous momentum. It is no wonder thac W u Jingzi offered a chronicle o f frivolous incidents with no "historical significance" in the conventional sense o f the term-10 Despite the constant, rapid shifts from one character to another, there is no real sense o f discontinuity in the narrative, for the literati characters, although distinct

9. Anderson, T h e Scorpion in the Scholar's Cap," p, 268. In the same article, Anderson argues: "In broader rhetorical terms, we may say that the text [of the novel] fivors metonymy, or relations o f contiguity, over metaphor, or rclatioiu of resemblance" (p. i6 j). As Anderson acknowledges (pp. 263, 421), his use of the terms metonymy and metaphor as two basic forces organizing the operation of language and narrative structure Is indebted co Roman Jakobson, Peter Brooks, and Paul dc Man. 10. For the same reason, W u Jingzi's use of the historical chronicle does not necessarily afiirm che narrative and interpretive patterns of the official chronologies. For further studies of Chinese chronicles, see van tier Loon, "The Ancient Chinese Chronicles and the Growth o f Historical Ideals"; and Yang Lien-sheng, T h e Organization of Chinese Official Historiog­ raphy."

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from one another, are somehow absorbed into the same whirlpool o f mun­ dane afiairs.11 T h e temporal dynamics o f secular activity is best manifested in W u s ac­ count o f his characters' constant travel. T h e section o f the novel from Chap­ ters 2 through 30 is peopled by anxious and restless literati characters on cheir way somewhere else. Unlike the legendary heroes o f The Water Margin, who live their wandering lives outside society, they engage in journeys to worldly destinations to cake the civil service examinations, to assume official posts, to establish official connections;or co cake advantage o f connections already established. Everyone knows his destination, yet is blindly preoccu­ pied with worldly affairs and thus deprived o f a true sense o f direction. Throughout

waishi, the rapid shifting from one character co another

is accompanied by an equally rapid movement in space. T h e narrator follows his characters through private and public places. Everything they experi­ ence— the noise; the commotion; the disputes; the chattering and scribbling; the gossiping,, rumor, and scandal— inflames desire, enhances vanity, and morivares them in their competition for worldly gain. There seems ro be no pause for breath and no permanent place o f rest. Chance encounters on the road bring in new characters— travelers with an equal sense o f urgency and discontent一 and subject them, one after another, to the same insanify and absurdity, induced by accelerated competition and its attendant humiliation. From this perspective, time is not external to the characters; instead, it is assimilated into their lives. T o trace their movement, we may cite Georg Lukacss words from Theory o f the Novel: "Characters hiving no apparent mean­ ing appear, establish relations with one another, break them off, disappear again without any meaning having been revealed."12 It is made clear in the introductoiy chapter o f Rulin waishi rhat the flux o f secular rime has no per­ manent meaning. A s spokesman for W u Jingzi, W an g Mian makes a critical 11. For more discussion o f the episodic structure o f Ruim waishi, see Part III. Here I wish to emphasize the temporal sequence as one of the novel's constitutive principles. It is helpful to recall Georg Lukacs's argument that only the novel, by which he means, of course, the Western novel, includes real time among its constitutive principles (T he Theory of the Novel, p. 121). I do not mean to suggest thar Rulin waishi's treatment o f time resembles that of the novels Lukacs refers to. Yet the following point seems not totally irrelevant: "The unrc5tricted, unin­ terrupted flow of time is the unifying principle of the homogeneity that rubs the sharp edges off each heterogeneous fragment and establishes a relationship— albeit an irrational and inex­ pressible one-^bctween them" (p. 125). 12. Ibid.

I4 8

BEYOND OFFICIAL HISTOR Y

statement about the history recounted in the rest o f the novel: since the civil service examination requires that candidates compose bagu essays in accor­ dance with the officially sanctioned interpretation o f the Confucian classics, literati will neglect altogether the values o f wen, good conduct, and conscien­ tious judgment as to when to serve the authorities and when co retire (wen xing chu chu), qualities that would otherwise endow them with a sense o f gravity to anchor their rootless lives. W h a t we see in the novel is, therefore, a ceaseless pursuit o f such worldly ambitions as career, fame, riches, and rank mirtgfu ^ui). T h a t pursuit in turn becomes the driving force that moti­ vates and transforms everyone involved. In his account o f worldly pursuits W u Jingzi does not permit his charac­ ters to rise above the mundane flux or construct meaning for their restless lives. Even poetry loses its power to enchant or enlighten; it reveals no higher truth about life, and it fails even to temporarily liberate its practirioners from secular time. Hopelessly degraded at the hands o f self-described poets, ic be­ comes instead a badge o f social distinction or a tool for political networking; the four 'eccentric townsfolk” portrayed in Chapter 5$ o f the novel have to seek other media for lyrical detachment. A nd that chapter offers not a re­ stored poetic inspiration or lyrical transcendence but a nostalgic lyricism tinged with an elegiac tone.13

Past, Present, and Retrospective Comments In its narrative o f secular history, Rulin waishi does not quite achieve a sense o f completion. Unlike zhengshi, which valorizes the world o f the past, secular history is constructed in the sphere o f possible contact with the developing, incomplete, and therefore constantly re-evaluated present. Km/io waishi uses incidents recounted in the past tense in two ways. First, W u Jingzi adopted the M ing dynasty chronology as the framework o f his

13. Rulin waishi never regards poetry as the ultimate escape from the world of mundane af­ fairs or as a promising alternative mode of writing for characters such as the ba^u essayists. W u Jingzi's avoidance of poetry in Ku/i« waishi is, therefore, a matter of deliberate choice. Al­ though from time to time we are told that the characters compose poems on specific occa­ sions, never once does the narrator present those poems in their entirety. N or does he use po? etry as a distinct form of narratorial discourse. Except for the two poems placed at the beginning and the end of the novel, verse is conspicuously absent in Rt(fin waishi in compari­ son with other Chinese novels. It is noteworthy that R«(fn waishi was the first Chinese novel not to use poetry in forming its narrative.

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novel and carefully wove his fictional characters and incidents into histori­ cal events,14 Second, and perhaps more important he placed the events o f the earlier part o f the novel in the past tense by referring to them, when­ ever he could, in the recollections o f the newcomers. But in

waishi, no

5

business is ever finished. Instead o f fading into the permanent, silent pa tP the characters depicted earlier re-emerge, often not in person but as a topic o f conversation for those who appear later/5 These conversations fulfill a variety o f functions: some bring us up to date abour che doings and where­ abouts o f the characters; some refer to what they did before; still others of­ fer different accounts and interpretations o f events previously represented In the firsr two cases, the narrator returns again and again to those charac­ ters, reminding us that thcir stories are far from complete* Th is often has the effect o f unsettling rather than reaffirming the episodes recounted ear­ lier- From these fragmentary oral accounts, we glean the lacer developments o f previously intro du ced characters, but they are often fraught with unex­ pected turns and twists and therefore can hardly be inferred from the pre­ vious episodes*16 In fact, a mere reference to these new developments de,

14. One such example is that the fictional characters often refer to the famous hou qizi (the Later Seven Masters) of the Ming dynasty. In Chapter 30 2 character claims that he used to compose poetry with these scholars while he served in the princes palace in rhe capital- In re­ sponse, Du Shenqing claims chat two of them (Li Paiilong and W ang Shizlien) arc his uncles* When the topic of conversation shifts ro Zong Chen, another member of the hou qizi, he says, "Senior Secretary Zong was my fathers classmate (both o f whom obtained the official degress in the same year)广 15. Some characters do return, playing minor roles or roles of reduced importance in later sections of the novel. For instance, Ma Er (Ma Chunshang) reappears in Chapters 33 and 34, Wang H ui in Chapter 38, and Iron-Armed Zhang (Zhang Tiebi) in Chapters 31, 32, and 37* But in the last two cases, Wang and Zhang change their names and disguise their own past* Since the novel covers a long period of time, the generational transition provides a method for creating contrasts between father and son* Compared with the father, the son is often por­ trayed in a negative light, testifying to the general trend o f degeneration the novelist delineates throughout* The most striking example is Bao Tiiigxi, Bao Wcnqing's adopted son, whose behavior bears no resemblance to his fathers. 16. One such example is the story o f Xun Mei. He is first mentioned in Chapter 2 by Wang Hui, who dreams o f passing the palace examination at the same rime as Xun (Xun Mei is then merely a sevcn-^ear-old sradenr)* In Chapter 7 Xun Mci does pass the examina­ tion but leaves for home to mourn for his mother before receiving an official post. In Chapter 22 we learn that he has been promored co salt commissioner. But a conversation between two officers in Chapter 29 reveals an unexpected twist to his story: he has been arrested because of a scandal, Waiig Hui is inrroduced in Chapter 2 as an arrogant provincial graduate, but what

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prives the accounts o f these characters o f a sense o f completion, suggesting that they are small fragments o f an ongoing and largely untold stoiy. In che third case, the same character is often described in conflicting comments; there is no prospect o f a consensus, and accounts o f the same incident vary according to the teller. Each story may be modified by other characters’ retellings, which may be jusr as prejudiced and erroneous and which, with almost no exceptions, are left unconfirmed by the narrator.17 Sometimes the narrator directs our attention to the .circumstantial motivations for the constant retelling, conflicting comments, and possible fabrications. Som e­ times he seems interested merely in showing how easily memory is cor­ rupted b y time, which leaves those who come later with no guarantee o f a reliable version o f the past. In both cases, he retrieves the past from mem­ ory and opens it up to development, controversy, and distortion. There are precedents in Qing literature for Ruli« waishi's retrospective comments on the same episode from multiple perspectives, for example, The Palace o f the Eternal Life (Changsheng Man). W ritten by H ong Sheng in i688, the play presents the tragic love story o f Emperor Xuanzong and Yang Yuhuan, the Prized Consort, and their ultimate reunion in an imag­ ined world o f eternal happiness. In the second half o f the play, H ong Sheng kept returning to the central events o f the story: the collapse o f the empire and the death o f Yang Yuhuan. However, he represented them dif­ ferently each time he referred to them. T h e different representations o f the past provoke contrasting responses. M ost telling is the scene o f "Looking at the Stockings" in A ct 36. T h e owner o f a wine shop increases her business ,by exhibiting a pair o f stockings left behind by Yang before her forced sui­ cide. T h e customers see different things in the stockings: a trace o f tran­ sient beauty and romantic sensation, a testament to the unworldly Taoist's purity, and a witness to the emperors indulgence and the sufferings o f the

happens to him later is revealed mainly in other characters’ conversations. In his final appear, ance, in Chapter 38, he is disguised as a monk. Not only does the story o f Wang Hui stretch out too long and become too fragmented, it is so full o f such unexpected twists thac readers can easily lose track. 17. For instance, Ma Chunshang u subjected to continuous comment in Chapters 18, 20, 49. and 52, long after the focus of the narrative has shifted elsewhere. Even before his first ap­ pearance in Chapter 31, Du Shaoqing has been referred to in two clashing evaluations, and in Chapters j j and 34 he is exposed to more controversy.

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151

commoners. In this scene, H ong Sheng illuminated the ironic disparity be­ tween the tragic nature o f che evenc and the various reactions ir arouses, from commercial interests to a voyeurism mixed with nostalgic sentimen­ talism. In the same ironic vein, he also showed the degree to which peoples reactions to the same event are colored hy their predispositions and experi­ ence. In Acc 38 when Li Guinian, a musician in Emperor X unzongs or­ chestra, presents to the public the story o f Emperor Xunzong and Yang Yuhuan, there is, unsurprisingly, no consensus as to its meaning. One man sees Yang as evil, another regards her as a romantic heroine, and a third does not even care who she was: he comes just to enjoy the storytelling, and the authenticity o f the account is irrelevant.18 H ong Sheng did not try to reconcile these conflicting views o f rhe same event. In face, partial or prejudiced as they may be, all are evoked by Li Guinians storytelling and singing, and none can be dismissed as entirely groundless. A s a narrator within the play, L i Guinian not only sums up the major themes and modfs o f the first half but also provides us with an occasion for reviewing or re­ reading the play itself. B y staging the internal audience's clashing responses to L is story, H o n g Sheng seems also to have anticipated the audiences or readers' interpretations o f his own dramatic rendering. Like The Palace o f the Eternal Life,

waishi is interested noc in con­

structing a single narrative of its characters and events but in offering as wide a range o f accounts and comments on them as possible. W u Jingzi did not make the radical epistemological claim chat the past is absolutely unknow­ able, inscrutable, and unintelligible; rather, he showed how the past is shaped and reshaped as it is evoked by different characters in retrospective accounts. H is novel represents "history" as a domain o f discourse, a field o f claims and counterclaims and a contact zone between an unsettled past and a controversial present. One example o f this is an incident in Chapter 54 o f the novel. Ding Yanzhi, a lover o f poetry* whose name echoes che classical definition o f poetry— "to express one's abiding aims"一 purchases an anthology o f the poems said to have been composed at a party described in Chapter 12. But the anthology in­ cludes poems attributed to characters, such as Jing Lanjiang, Zh a o Xuezhai, and Kuang Chaoren, who did noc attend the party, as well as others, such as

18. For critical interpretation of these two scenes, see Owen* "Salvaging Poetry."

152

beyond official history

M a Chunshang, who have never composed poetry and are known for their abhorrence o f it. Although the poets and the bagu essayists consciously place themselves in opposite camps, the differences between them become obscured in the anthology. Ding Yanzhi, sharing the anthology with others, enters into a debate about ics authenticity. W ith Chen Munan’s mediation, the debate is eventually settled. Bur Chen's involvement raises new problems:riying ro dis­ pel the confusion, he "corrects" the story recounted in Chapter 13 by disclosing what he believes actually occurred to Quan W uyong, who was present at the part卜 This leaves us wirh nosrableground forjudgment.19 W e see in Chapter 54 o f Rwim waishi noc merely the possible mispercep­ tion, misinformation^ and corruption o f memory on the part o f those who come after but also how what is represented in the novel as "reality” becomes mutable through the passage of secular time. Th is is especially true when characters choose to play roles or deliberately create fictions about them­ selves through plagiarism, forgery, and impersonation. In Chapter 13, Qu Gongsun tries to arrange to have Kis name pUced. o a the covet o f a bagu antholog^ compiled by M a Chunshang. W hen M a rephrases Q u s request, he uses the words zhattfen^mian, literally, "to occupy a position on the coverM-rrthe cover becomes a battleground" on which the literati compete with one another in making false claims o f authorship. Th is is noc the first time that Q u Gongsun has done so. In Chapter 8, we are cold chat he added his name as editor to the cover o f a selection of Gao Q is poetry after learning that the copy he has is the only existing one. Another story o f forgery and impersonation, presented in Chapters 21 through 23, is even more dramatic. Th is time the impostor is N iu Pulang, a young man who steals the late,Commoner N iu s (N iu Bu.yi) manuscripts from a Buddhist monk. For N iu Pulang, reading the manuscript results in the same sudden enlightenment that Kuang Chaoren had in an earlier chap­ ter: "Apparently a man who can write poems doesnV have to pass rhe exami­ nations in order to make friends with great officials" (R. 288; S. 233). Th e thought then occurs to him: This man's name is N iu and so is mine;and he has only written a pen name, Com ­ moner Niu, on these volumes withour putting down his real name. W hy shouldn't I

19, In response to a question about the scandal involving Quan Wuyong that is rendered in Chapter 13, Chen explains, much to our surprise, that Quan was framed by his rivals and was later officially rehabilitated.

H istory and T im e : Z h en gsh i A i Represented in R u lin w aishi

153

add m y name to his? I will have two seals made and stamp these books wirh them; then these poems will become mine and from now on I shall call m yself Com m oner

Niu. (R. 288;S, 211) In the following part o f the story, N iu Pulang, now claiming to be N iu Buyi, puts on the square cap (fan^in) o f the literatus to signal his new identity. It is only fitting that such an account is followed by an episode in C h ap ­ ter 24 about actors whose profession is impersonation: Actor Qian; for in­ stance, is shown wearing the dramatic costumes meant for a gentleman o f the Hanlin Academ y on everyday occasions, thereby blurring the lines o f demarcation between acting and reality* W e are then told that Old M an Huang, a former actor, still dresses up in theatrical costumes. W hen a man teases him b y remarking, 'Look at this gentleman, M r. Qian! W h ^ compare him to a retired prefect? Even ministers and vice ministers couldn't look more grand广 Huang, without realizing rhat the man is poking fun ar him , "beams w ith pleasure” (R, 337-38;

5, 273), Impersonation wichout a sense o f

irony: this is the drama that rakes place not on stage bur in the sociopolitical world, whose role system is contingent on authority, arbitrary rules, and prerense* Indeedj R^Iin waishi often represents sociopolitical life through such dramatic devices as sudden turns and discoveries. Success in the civil service examiharion constitutes the climax for the literatis self-feshioning and at the same time gives it official sanction* It grants a new status and identity that can be embraced as "reality: In the episode o f Fan Jin in Chapter 3, this sudden j violenr change creates rhe m om en t o f psychological breakdown, A frustrated candidate for more tKan twenty years, he is so overwhelmed by the news of his success that he temporarily loses his mind. Upon recovering consciousness, Fan finds himself being rrcated with the respect he has never even dreamed of* A nd this public perception turns Him into someone beyond hi& own recognition, A a intellectually impover­ ished characrer, He has no inrernal resources with which to maintain the continuity o f his self-identity. H is view o f self is subject entirely to rhe ar­ bitrary rules o f the examination system, whose credibility is questioned throughout the novel.

2 a According to Ming regulations, grees could wear che square cap.

those who had acquired rhe xcucai and higher dc-

154

BEYOND OFFICIAL

HISTORY

In the story o f N iu Pulangs impersonation, this sociopolitical drama takes a slightly different twist. It ends with his winning a case brought against him h y N iu Buyi's wife: the judge decides that N iu Pulang is N iu Buyi, and the wife must go somewhere else to search for her husband who, according to the judge, happens to share the name. N iu Pulang may well as­ sert any identity he wishes for himself, but in this episode it is only through a peculiar legal procedure rhat his false self-representation is officially recog: nized as his true identity. T h is is not the end o f the N iu Pulang story. Along with many other characters, N iu Pukng is mentioned in Chapter $6 , the last chapter o f the novel, long after his death. Like Kuang Chaoren, who has undergone just as dramatic a process o f self-invention, he is posthumously granted the titles o f palace gradtute and Hanlin scholar and then commemorated as a neglected man o f virtue in a sacrifice organized by the Ministry o f Rices. A history so conceived is full o f errors, ironies, and unexpected twists. S o long as N iu and Kuang are playing the impersonation game, any effort to bring their stories to closure will appear arbitrary, and any final judgment on them will be only tentative. T o better understand R«!m waishi s rendering o f time, we should not only read the novel bui also probe into its composition. Rulin waishi took shape gradually over the course o f almost twenty years and thus emerged from a sprawling and yec vigorous process o f growing, repositioning, and selfquestioning. M ore important, although W u Jingzi set his narrative within a preconceived historical time frame, he was often driven by something akin to a journalist's interest in the unfolding o f the contemporary events. A s shown ’ above, his accounts o f many characters are distinctly open-ended. A n d this unresolved narrative is, I argue, to some ^extent dependent on the ongoing drama o f its empirical sources. Indeed,

waishi is known, among other

things, for its deep roots in contemporary literati experiences. A s a novelist, W u Jing2i consistently and methodically followed the lives o f his acquain­ tances through narrative;, even a few years before his death, he was still up­ dating rhe most recent changes in his accounts o f such characters as M a Chunshang.

In so doing, he succeeded in incorporating temporal dynamics

into his narrative and thus gave his work a remarkable sense o f becoming

21. For more on this topic, see the Appendix.

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155

rarely seen in the Chinese novel. Indeed, no novel before Rulin waishi had ever been so conceived and composed, and few subsequent works, if. any, achieved its degree o f narrative dynamism. In this regard, R«/in waishi is truly revolutionary. Its deep engagement in temporal change allows ic a new perspective on reality and poses a challenge to preconceived, static narrative paradigms and absolute claims to eternal moral truth.



C

H

A

P

T

E

R

5

A temporality,

Closure, a n d A scetic Ritual

Rwlm waishi recapitulates the corrosive force o f secular time in its account o f the deterioration of literati mores, especially in Chapters 2 through 30. But as it moves to construct the ascetic ritual in Chapters 31 through 37, it adopts a different: strategy for dealing with rime.

To protect this pure vision o f the ritu­

alized world from contamination and corruption, W u Jingzi elevated it above time and locked it into a separate narrative space. But the ascetic ritual has to be practiced, and ritual practice requires its devotees to transform the mun­ dane world according ro its vision. Th is brings the ascetic ritual into confron­ tation with the flux o f secular time, from which it has withdrawn; it must now struggle between its absolute imperatives and the erosive force o f ever-passing time and between its utopian impulse and its implementation in everchanging reality. In representing the ascetic ritual, W u Jingzi also confronted a narrative dilemma; to assert its cranscendence, he had to revitalize the au­ thoritative narrative whose credibility he called into question. Hence the ines­ capable conflict between different modes o f narrative within Rulin waishi

Ascetic R itual and T im e For the literati characters introduced in Chapters 30 through 36, the temple dedicated to W u Taibo is a place where they are able to relate to one another and create for themselves a center, a communiry, and a home, in which they eventually find tranquility. It provides them with a solid structure to grasp

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157

against the temporal flux o f worldly affairs; che^.sra^in che temple overnighr, fasting and purifying themselves, and. the ceremony conducted there further insulates them from the noise and restlessness o f the outside world. W u Jingzis representation o f the ceremony is a static, psychologically neutralizing, and almost self-erasing narrative: as the ritual gets under way, all sense o f time is suspended, with the practitioners transported into a utopia o f timeless harmony and perfect order. T h e narrative also seems to lose its forward movement, and all it does is to repeat formulaic language patterns? However, temporal dynamics have been built so deeply into the narrative that to,get rid o f them is to ,run the risk o f dispensing with narrative alto­ gether. In his reading o f X u n zis discourse on Confucian ritual, Marston Anderson argues, "Th e successful performance o f the rites .may be under­ stood to involve a mastering o f time.” Carrying this oyer to Rulin waishts ac­ count o f the 丁 aibo.:ceremony, he notes that the Taibo passage suggests a perfect consonance between the text o f the ritual and its contemporary performance., "This unity o f w o rd and action," he com m ents, Vreares a privi­ leged temporal precinct, in which the participants, freed o f disturbing timebound emotions, may give themselves fully to the present ,tense o f the ritual."1 T h is is, indeed, a magical moment o f suspension, a moment: when time-driven narrative comes to an encL In order to separate the ritualized world from the transitory and morally corrupt present, W u Jingzi created an internal boundary o f temporal discon­ tinuity. Besides representing the ceremony in the formulaic fashion o f C o n ­ fucian ritual manuals, in the account o f Y u Yude in Chapter 36 he adopted the standard form o f biography and constructed an; uninterrupted, closed time sequence that prevents alien views. Y u is the only character other than W an g Mian who is accorded a coherent and consistent exemplary biography. Interrupting the time sequence o f the narrative, the,biography o f Y u begins with a flashback to his miraculous birth, which is itself an elaboration o f the myth o f Confucius's birth, with all the auspicious omens.2 Y u thus inhabits a

1. Anderson, T h e Scorpion in the Scholars Cap," p. 270. 2. W e are told that Yu is born in a town called Unicorn Sash (Linfu). The unicorn is a symbol of benevolence and a metaphor for the man of supreme virtue and talent. In the myth of Confticius*s birth, a unicorn appeared to Confucius's mother, Zheng Zai, in a dream as a messenger from Heaven. She understood the meaning of this divine miracle and tied a sash around the unicorns horn. The sash itself became a witness,to Confucius's fate: when a farmer caught the unicorn with the sash on its horn many years later, Confucius knew his life

158

BEYOND OFFICIAL HISTORY

ritualized world closed to all but those o f his own kind, those who are cre­ ated for and by the ceremony. H is interaction with the outside world is re­ duced to a minimum. But Y u Yude is not completely relegated to a space outside time. Once he steps out o f the privileged bounds o f biography, he is confronted by the un­ settling, controversial present and subjected to alternative perspectives. In Chapter 37, W u Shu, one of Y u ’s students, characterizes, two anecdotes about his teacher as "strange" and "laughable' (kexiao and haoxiao). This ironic remark is immediately rebutted by D u Shaoqing, who believes the in­ cidents show Y u s virtue is so lofty thac it is beyond the comprehension o f common folk, but the importance o f W u Sh u s remarks lie in the suggestion o f the very possibility o f seeing Y u from another angle. Immediately follow­ ing Y u s biography and the account of the Taibo ceremony, W u ’s comment illuminates the contrasts between the ritualistic/biographical world and the world o f mundane reality, and between the ways time is treated in each. In­ deed, whereas the performance o f ritual involves 2. temporary suspension o f time, biographical narrative provides the characters with an exemption from change, development, and alternative views. By contrast, secular narrative is bound to the flow o f constant mutation and shifts o f viewpoint. Th e illusory and transitory nature o f the ritualized world is immediately apparent as the narrator resumes his normal pace in his account o f worldly affairs outside rhe remple. Designed ro absorb the ceremony pracricioners into the timeless vision o f a ritualized world, the Taibo temple itself cannot stand the erosion o f the secular time and eventually falls apart. In his render­ ing o f the ultimate fall o f the temple, W u Jingzi gave compelling expression to the corrupting power o f the temporal flux that no ideology has managed to contain or overcome. W u Jin gzis history o f literati degeneration begins, however, with a pro­ phetic episode about divine messages, Heavens will, and the fate o f the lite­ ratis cultural tradition. W an g Mian announces a divine mission for the lite­ rati o f the following generations: to maintain the fortunes o f culture (wcnyun) against the tide o f their times. "Look!" W an g M ian pointed to the stars, saying to his old neighbor, "the Chains have invaded the Scholars. Thac shows chat scholars o f this generation will have trouble ahead/1 A s he spoke, a strange wind sprang up. It soughed through the trees was about to end. He held the unicorn in his arms, untied the sash, and wept. See Wang Jia, "Zhou lingwang," in Sbiyijt.juan 3, pp. 62-63.

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and made the waterfowl take wing, crying in alarm, while W ang M ian and O ld Q in hid their faces in cheir sleeves for fear. Soon the wind dropped, and when they looked again they saw about a hundred small stars in the sky, all falling toward the southeast horizon, “H eaven has taken pity on the scholars/ said W ang Mian"These stars have been sent down to maintain the fortune o f culture. But we shan't live to see it 广 (H. 15; S, 13)

W h a t is presented here is a variation on the formulaic beginning o f many premodem Chinese novels. In The Story of the Stone the abandoned stone is reincarnated into the human world to satisfy, in C , T , H sias words, its Faustian desire for experience, knowledge, and pleasure, as well as to fulfill its karma*3 T h e 108 demonic stars o f Water Margin are accidentally released from a Pandoras box, and their reincarharion in the human world leads to a series o f violent and destructive acts; later we are told that the baleful stars were sent down ro carry out a heavenly taskj yet their actions are never cleansed o f ambiguity. Beyond the narrative tradition o f the novel, W an g Mian's statement about the divine mission o f preserving the cultural tradition ultimately de­ rives from the Analects:4 T h e opening episode in Rulin waishi indicates a grand project o f Confucian narrative ar work. W hen under siege in Kuang, the M aster said, “W ith K in g W en dead, does culture not reside here in me? I f H eaven had intended that this culture should perish, those who died later would not have been able to participate in it. H eaven is not j^et about to let this culture perish, so what can the men o f K uan g do to me?"

Since Z h o u culture “is based on both the models o f the ancients and the manifest patterns o f the natural order/'5 Confucius is convinced that the fact that it endured after King that heaven favors him as ^ W e n s death signals ^ .t • irv its legitimate transmitter* But he does not rule out the possibility that this cul­ ture might perish if there is no guarantee o f its transmission to the future. W h at is embodied in the ancient norms can easily be lost or distorted. Th e cosmic order is by no means self-evident and is often subject to interpreta­ tion, Moreover, who can claim the same privilege as Confucius in asserting a role as the carrier o f this culture? W h o can be so confident that he has been

J. C* T* Hsia, essay on The Story of the Stoncr pp. 262-73.

4* Sec AmkctSt

°«rj;p, 1. 5.

Ibid,

Book 9. M y translation follows Peter Bol's translation in "Tfcii Culture of

l60

BEYOND OFFICIAL HISTORY

chosen by Heaven to interpret the ancient sages' intentions? A nd what, after all, does it mean to maintain this culture in the mundane realm o f politics and insticucions in times when sage and king are no longer perfectly united in one body? T o Confucius, the wen— what it is, what it does, and how it is transmitted— seems obvious, but in R«!i« waishi, the mission to save wen is doomed from the outset. Indeed, W an g M ian’s divine prophecy in the introductory chapter is im­ mediately followed by a "history” that demonstrates how much the mundane world has deviated from the cosmic order. W h ar we learn in this history is the impossibility o f restoring natural order to the changing world o f mun­ dane praxis, and the irrelevance o f Heavens will, whatever it is anH whatever form it rakes, to human existence. In fact, the culture is to be destroyed, de­ spite Heaven’s intention to save it, W an g M ian’s critique o f the civil service examination system reinforces the story's sense o f irony and complexity with an ominous twist: it is the authorities' efforts to institutionalize the studies o f rhe Confucian classics that contribute to the distortion, and ultimately to the destruction, o f that culture. N o r can the norms o f antiquity be translated into the social practice o f the presenr time without conflict and distortion. Between the ideas and the insti­ tutionalized praxis o f the past and the world o f reality there is time一 an ungraspable, invisible phenomenon that erodes the ground for any claims o f homogeneity between the two and frustrates human struggles against its power. N o examples illustrate the failure o f such struggles better than the epi­ sodes o f the literatis collective practice o f the Taibo ceremony in

waishi.

■Despite their urge to overcome the historical distance between past and pres­ ent and to achieve an identification with che models o f the Confucian sages, these characters are bound to a world that is fatally subject to temporal 2nd historical limitations. T h ey reside in the same world as the characters o f the first thirty chapters. A t the symbolic level, those characters, too, bear che identity o f celesrial beings— the scholar-srars (wenqu xin^). Bur rheir symbolic bond with Heaven is mentioned merely as a joking matter; it reminds us o f 6. For insrance, in Chapter 3 o f the novel, when Fan Jin loses his mind upon hearing rhe news o f his success in the provincial examination, someone suggests rhat Butcher Hu, his father-in-law, hit him to restore him to sanity, but Hu demurs. " H e may be my son-in-law,' he said, "but he's 1 civil official now一 one o f the stars in heaven. How can you hit one o f the stars in heaven? IVe heard that whoever hits the stars in heaven will be carried away by the King of Hell, given a hundred strokes with an iron rod, and shut up in the eighteenth hell, never to become a human being again*" (K. 45; S. 35). Immediately after he hits Fan Jin, "his

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thcir privileged status, for which they are not qualified. A s members o f the literati class, they are supposed ro carry the norms o f the culture, bur their concerns are limited to the immediate advantages o f status, power, fame, and economic interest. W ith no commitment to moral principles, they seem to have abandoned themselves entirely to rhe passage ofcime, allowing their lives to be overrun by its currents. Indeed, time will not become the constitutive power in the making o f their character and mentality until they themselves are distanced from the ultimate source o f meaning and their symbolic bond with the transcendental home is severed once and forever.

T he Problem of F inal Judgm ent In The Content of the. Form, Hayden W hite writes, "Th e demand for closure in the historical story is a demand for moral meaning, a demand that se­ quences o f real events be assessed as to their significance as elements o f a moral drama."7 Carrying this over to Chinese historiography, Anthony Y u argues, "Focused thus upon the exemplary significance o f characters and events, history in China assumes the authority o f a kind o f realized eschatology, to use Christian terminology, because its judgment is thought to be both impartial and virtually irreversible/"8 W ritten under the sign o f history, Rwlin waiihi raises a question about the very possibility o f such historical judgment* A s I have argued, R«!in waishi resists closure. Throughout the main body o f the novel, few characters die, and the exit o f a specific character does noc provide an occasion for passing a definitive judgment upon him or her. Characters keep alluding to past events in their conversations, not in order to give them closure but to draw them into che ongoing controversy and open them up to future dispute. W ith no absolute guarantee o f the truthfulness o f the characters’ claims, what we know is not a matter o f epistemological possibility but rather o f contextual possibility. T h e episode o f Quan W uyong is apparently closed in Chapter 13, only co be reopened by Chen Munan in Chapter 54. But Chen’s version o f the story cannot be taken for granted, either. Alchough he seems to have no reason to lie, his hand began to ache; when he raised his palm, he found to his dismay that lie could not bend k.* *1ts true then that you mustn't strike the stars in heaven/ he thought. "Now Buddfia does not allow me to get away with it’ " (R. 46; S. 36). 7. White, The Content of the Form, p. 21. 8‘ Antliony Yu, Rereading the Stone, p. 40.

162

beyond

o ffic ia l

h is t o r y

account o f the incident, just like the accounts o f all other characters (except for W an g Mian in the introductory chapter), cannot escape the corrup­ tions o f perspectivism, the corrosive forces o f rime, and the uncertainty o f memory. A s doubt hovers in the air, we find it impossible to take the char­ acters' words, at face value. The true closure o f the Quan W uyong case is once again delayed. Closure or final judgment is, however, required by ascetic ritual, for the ritual embodies norms o f value and significance against which to measure the world and history. Closure is also implied in the conventional paradigm o f history, historical romance, and other types o f the vernacular novel, which as genres are derived from, or related in some fashion to, historiog­ raphy. For W u Jingzi, there seems to be no solution except to reinforce the normative authority o f the ascetic ritual through a narrative form he often questioned. Indeed, what W u Jingzi did in Chapter 56 seems to confirm the formulaic ending

of tHe conventional

novel. A s is the case with other novels, the con­

cluding chapter is detached from the main story in terms o f time and narrative mode. It begins with an imperial edict issued in the forty-third year

of the

W anli reign (1615), many years after the deaths o f the major characters. In the edict, the W anli emperor encourages his ministers to recommend men o f vir­ tue who are still undiscovered in order to help him govern the state better. In response, a minister suggests that he collect the names o f all the men o f virtue who passed away without obtaining an official title, mostly due co the restric­ tions of the civil service examinations, and then to posthumously award them, on the basis of their moral excellence and capacity, the degree o f palace gradu­ ate (jinshi) and the corresponding title o f Hanlin scholar. A list of candidates is presented to the emperor; in includes ninety-one names appear in the preceding chapters

of the

of characters who

novel. Fifty-five o f them, with Y11

Yude heading the list, are finally selected and honored under three hierarchi­ cal rubrics. O n the same day that the roll o f honors is posted in the Ministry

of Rices, a government-sponsored ceremony is dedicated to them in the Impe­ rial College. Both the roll of honor and the ceremony give a conclusive recog­ nition to selected heroes o f the novel. T h e late Qing commentator in the Qixingtang edition wrote that final mention o f all the characters is the way for a novelist co close his case.9 In­ deed, most premodern vernacular novels conclude with one or more such 9, See Li Hanqiu, ed., "Rulm waishi" huijiao huiping ben, pp. 761-62,

Atcm porality, Closure, and Ascetic

163

lists.10 Red Inkstone (Zhiyan Zhai) claimed that The Story of the Stone ended with a "Final Listing o f the Characters with Feeling"

in which the

major characters o f the novel are classified and ranked according to the na­ ture and depth o f their passions.11 The Investiture of the Gods (Fcngihen yanyi),

The Journey to the West, and later, A Precious M irror for Judging Flowers (Pinhua baojian) are only a few of the novels that share this feature. But none o f these final evaluations seems to have provoked as much con­ troversy as that in Rulin waishi. Jin H e (1818-85) was the first reader to ques­ tion the authenticity o f Chapter 56. “Someone, sometime, recklessly added,w he wrote in his postscript to rhe Qunyuzhai edition o f Rwlin waishi, "z you-

bang [posthumous examination roster] juan, forming its official proclama­ tions by-reassembling parallel sentences taken from Master (W u Jing2i)s lit­ erary works in the most sloppy, laughable way. It should be deleted so that the novel will be restored to its original form.”12 Despite rhe lack of support­ ing evidence, Zh an g W enhu (1808-85), another late Qing commentator on the novel, concurred, as have many modern scholars. Th is opinion was so in­ fluential that almost all editions of the,novel published in China up to the early 1980s excluded Chapter 56, as did all English, French, and Japanese translations. Following Jin He's suggestion, the editors o f these editions of­ ten concluded Chapter 55 with the lyric "Qinyuan chun,” which in the W o ­ xian caotang edition (1803), the earliest extant edition o f the novel, was found at the end o f Chapter 56. Th e removal o f Chapter 56 created many problems for the overall structure o f the novel, but the interesting question is what prompted the critics to make such a move. W h ar is ar stake in the debate about rhe ending o f the novel? Although many o f the objections brought against Chapter 56 Have since been proven baseless, one criticism seems irrefutable: thac the final judg­ ments passed on rhe characters do noc do them justice. T h e inclusion, exclu­ sion, and ranking o f rhe characters in the roster are the focus o f the debate. In. his 1885 edition-with-commentary o f Rwlirt waishi, Zh ang W enhu quoted

10, For a more systematic survey of the formulaic ending of the vernacular novel, see Rolst°n, Reading and Writing Between the Lines, pp. 201-8. Odd Tablet, in his comments in chapters 17 and 18 o f the novel, indicated that he had read this list in 1762 (Chen Qinghao, ed., Xinbian "Sbifow ji* Zbiyan Zhai pittgyu jijtao, p. 331). Although this list is missing from all existing editions of The Story of the Stone, numerous imi­ tations of the novel furnish such a list as a way of evaluating the major characters. 12. See Jin He*s U i ” waishi ba," in Li Hanqiu, ed., u/aifhi" huijiao huipittg ben, pp. 764-67,

164

b e y o n d

o f f i c i a l

h i s t o r y

part o f Jin H e s postscript and criticized Chapter 56 for including Buddhist monks, boxers, and women under the rubric Rulin.13 H e even tentatively at­ tributed the authorship o f Chapter 56 to the W oxian caotang commentator, who strongly recommended this chapter and likened it to Sima Qian's post­ face to Shiji. T h e Qixingtang edition commentator apparently did not share Jin H e’s conviction, yet he did not hesitate to criticize Chapter 56 for what he saw as an inappropriate mixing o f the characters with different moral qualities in the final register. In fact, he replaced the register with his own list o f characters, excluding those he despised, such as Kuang Chaoren and N iu Pulang, adding others, and assigning different rankings to still others.14 ; However, it is one thing to argue that the novel is inconsistent in its

evaluation o f characters, and quite another to hold that the novel was writ­ ten by more than one author or to attribute a specific section o f the novel to someone other than W u Jingzi. In fact, studies o f

waishi's authorship

have so far produced no convincing evidence o f the involvement o f a second author or an editor in the 1803 edition. Even those who dislike or condemn Chapter $6 can hardly deny that ir fits the conventional paradigm o f the novel and constitutes an integral part o f the larger design o f Rulin waishi It can be regarded as an echo o f the introductory chapter, which is also dis­ tanced in time from the main body o f the novel. In the introductory chapter W a n g M ian s statement about the heavenly mission o f maintaining che cul­ tural tiradition inaugurates the novel. It conceals within itself an anticipation o f the ending, which in turn gives the beginning its meaning and purpose. A s Zhao Jingshen has correctly noted, the correspondence between the first: and last chapters in

waishi is a structural device borrowed from Water

Mar^iVi.15 Ogawa Tamaki was probably the first to relate the introductory chapter o f Rulin waishi to its counterpart in Water Margin.16 Following him, Tim othy W o n g drew a parallel between the overall structure o f the two novels. Certainly no one can miss the fact that Chapter 37 o f Rulin waisfpi is modeled upon Chapter 71 o f Water Margin, Both the Taibo temple and the H all o f Loyalty and Righteousness (Zhongyi cing) serve as a locus where almost all the characters come together in grand ceremonies to create the

13* Ibid., p. 75514* See the fanli of the Qixingtang Zbengding waishi, in Li Hanqiu, ed., "Ru/im waishi" bwyvao fjuiying ben, pp. 768-70. 15, Zhao Jingshen, "Tan Jlu/m waishi," 423-30. 16. Ogawa Tamaki, "Jurin ^aisbi no keishiki to n a iy o p p . 164-86.

Atem porality, Closure, and Ascetic R itual

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climaxes o f the two novels. Here again, Rulm waishi demonstrates structural coherence through the deliberate deployment o f the devices o f foreshadow­ ing and correspondence. Chapter 36 is a hagiography o f Y u Yude, the ritual master in the Taibo ceremony. It corresponds to the exemplary biography o f W an g Mian in the introductory chapter. Chapter 37, the Taibo ceremony, is echoed in Chapter 56, in which the ritual participants themselves are com­ memorated as men o f virtue in another ceremony. In Chapter 37 the Taibo ceremony is followed by a list o f the literati who organized and participated in it. Like the honorary roster in Chapter 56, this list includes the names o f Jin Dongya and others with no greater claim to moral status than Kuang Chaoren and N iu Pulang, I f these are not grounds for rejecting Chapter 37, why question the authenticity o f Chapter 56? Th e controversy regarding the final judgment o f the characters in RhIim waishi reveals rhe tension between its innovative narrative and its structural framework, which was adopted from the conventional paradigm. Its ending is an example o f reliance on an old scheme that does not function well in its new narrative context. Conferring an absolute judgment on characters who have been previously exposed to multiple perspectives generates nothing but confusion. This brings us back to the issues previously discussed: the novel’s render­ ing o f the past, o f memory, o f the temporal flux o f time, and o f the perpetual mutability o f history, as well as its constant exposure o f its characters to con­ flicting comments and recollections. All this makes it impossible co say the last word about any characrer without, being controversial or. even ironic. Basing his conclusions on the model o f historical writings, the Qixingtang edition commentator regarded W u Jingzis ending o f the roster with Iron Pen G u o (Guo Tiebi) as W u s means o f praising himself. But such self­ reference is not without irony, for Iron Pen is by no account as fair, sharp, and critical as his name would indicate. In Chapter 21 Guo is even deceived by N iu Pulang; he cuts a personal seal for "Commoner N iu " that facilitates the latter's scandalous impersonation. Those who believe the novel should end with Chapter 55 find it difficult to defend such an ending in terms o f the conventional narrative paradigm; all they can say is that rhe novel ends without an ending (yi bujie zhi jie),

which

is to offer not a solution but a paradox. A nd in this case no solution is possi­

17. See Tianmu Shanqiaos (Zhang Wenhu) postscript to R«!i« waishi, in Li Hanqiu, ed., JWi” waishi' huijiao huipittg ben, p. 772.

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ble that is noc paradoxical. In

waishi, the ending exemplifies the prob­

lem the novel fails to resolve, the tension between the need for and the im­ possibility o f conclusive claims: the adopted framework requires such a claim, but the main body o f the narrative attests to its impossibility. T h e crumbling temple portrayed in Chapter 55 is a suggestive emblem o f the novel as sus­ tained by this old framework: all the attached materials have disintegrated, but the post and lintel system remains to indicate unrealized intentions. However, this argument should not be taken too far. I am not claiming that Rtdin waishi completely disavows the possibility o f narratorial authority, for after all, W u Jingzi was able to manipulate our responses to his narrative through various and often subtle devices. T h e important point is that Rwliw waishi creates such a complicated narrative situation that any narratorial as­ sertion would sound too na'ive, ineffective, and even ironic. Chapter 56, the last chapter o f the novel, provides a fitting example. For modern scholars the problems o f Chapter 56 are by no means limited to the misjudgments o f the characters; even more perplexing are the novel's apparent thematic contradictions* H o w can a novel chat begins with a severe critique o f the civil service examinations end with the imperial awarding o f official degrees and tides to its characters? One may cite historical sources for the posthumous examination roster to show that Chapter 56 might not be as absurd as Jin H e would have us believe.18 One could also argue that here Rulin waishi is again modeled on the 100-chapter edition o f Water M arwhich concludes wirh the conferring o f posthumous imperial honors on the bandit heroes.19 However, neither o f these explanations is o f much help in dealing with the thematic inconsistencies that critics have discerned in RmIim waishi. H e Manzi, in his reading o f Chapter 56, detects the ironic tone that per­ meates the most sophisticated passages o f the novel. T o him, the opening paragraph o f the chapter juxtaposes the narrators account o f the W anli em­ peror and the emperors self-representation to set a tone for the rest o f the chapter. Th e emperor is said not to have held court for years or read any of­ ficial memorials, but his edict claims that his extraordinary diligence and

18.

(1123-1202)

(900

Hong Mai recorded that in the third year of the Guanghua reign ce) Emperor Zhaozong of the Tang dynasty conferred posthumous imperial honors on men of letters such as Li He and Jia Dao, following Wei Zhuang's suggestion (see Rongihai suibi,juan p. Fang Rixi, "Rutin waishi youbang suobcn." Wong, Wu Chin^tzu,

7, 328). Sec 19.

p. 128.

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conscience have left him no time for meals. Although we are told that "every province is plagued by drought or flood, and refugees pack the roads/' the emperor, who has completely neglected his duty, wonders w hy his age has not yet achieved the glories o f the Three Dynasties. It follows that the memorial ceremony could be nothing more than an empty polirical perfor­ mance, and that the posthumous examination roster, is a token gesture. Per­ haps more important is the somber irony chat this final chapter suggests: even in death, the literati characters cannot escape rhe civil service examina­ tion system that has dominated (and ruined) their lives.20 This ironic approach suggests a way o f integrating Chapter 56 into rhe overall design o f Rulin waishi* Bur since the chapter is an essential parr in the framework o f the novel, its ironic stance should not prevent the voices it represents from signifying, directly. W h at we see in rhe chapter cannot be dealt with merely at the level o f representation; in official memorials, elegiac addresses, and ritual prayers we hear rhe echoes o f W an g M ian’s (and hence the narrators) lamentations on the fate o f the literati, as well as their critique of the civil service examinations. In fact, in its encounter with the literati (af­ ter their death, thus in their absence), the court does make concessions on two major fronts, ac least in words, First, in Shan Yangyans (a pun on "good at remonstrationM) memorial and Liu Jinxians ("recommending worthies") panegyric, the two court officials admit the limits, if not the failure, o f the oppressive system o f the civil service examinations. W ithin the limited space of two paragraphs they use the term "status" (zige) four times: too many men o f talent, they claim, failed the examinations and have since been suppressed due to the restrictions o f status (xianzhi yu zigc or zige kunren) imposed by the official system. Second, when reflecting upon his possible negligence o f duty, the W anli emperor writes: In order to advance to the time o f prosperity, the first step to take is to recommend and employ men o f talent. In the past when Duke M u of rhe Qin failed to practice Tfce Ritej of Zhou (Zhou li), a poet criticized him. This was why the poem "Reed" (in the Boofe of Odes) was composed. Nowadays are there not some worthy and wise men who remain in inferior and obscure positions? Otherwise, why has our age not achieved the prosperity of the Three Dynasties? (R. 752) His admission o f the courts failure to promote men o f virtue to help establish the Confucian rituals and institutions signifies a belated official recogni­

20* He Manzi, Lun "Rulin waishi" pp. 75-77.

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BEYOND OFFICIAL HISTORY

tion o f the literatis practice in the Taibo ceremony in Nanjing.21 H is em­ phasis on ritual is echoed in the panegyric presented in the ceremony in the Ministry o f Rites. Representing the court’s attempt to recognize rhe ne­ glected, marginalized literati and their moral stances, Chapter 56 provides W u Jingzi with an imagined occasion for negotiating with the court in search o f a common ground upon which to settle historical issues. Needless to say, such a negotiation between court and literati cannot avoid conflict and irony. T h e way in which the court ceremony is represented is an excel­ lent illustration of narrative ritual. W h a t we see in Chapter 56 is not the per­ formance o f the ceremony but ritualistic discourse一 pure verbal articulation that is entirely absent from the account o f the Taibo ceremony in Chapter 37, By che same token, the court officials’ critique o f the civil service exami­ nation system for its reinforcement o f the status quo is at best self-defeating. For they propose to reward the neglected, marginalized literati ritualists with official titles and degrees and absorb them into the very examination system that they themselves have explicitly criticized. T h e court officials' critique echoes W u Shu’s comments in Chapter 40, in which he attributes Xiao Yunxians failure to register his name in the zbengshi to his low status (xianyu zige). W u Sh u s reservations with regard to

21* It is noteworthy that the Wanli emperors mention of Duke Mu of Qins neglect of the Rites of Zhou seems to highlight one of the anecdotes in several versions of Wang Mian’s biog­

raphy, In "The Biography of Wang Mian/* Song Lian of the Ming dynasty wrote that Wang Mian “once wrote a book of one juan on the model of the Rites of Zhou, He carried ir with him wherever he went and whatever he did, and never allowed others to read it. In the dead of night he would read it aloud by lamplight, and then with his hands on rhe book he would sigh: I f I should live a while longer and by chance meet an enlightened ruler, with this book it would not be difficult to accomplish what Yi Yin and Lu Shang d id,ft (Song Lian, "Wang Mian zhuan/1 in Li Hanqiu, ed„ "Rulin waishi9yanjiu ziliao, pp. 164-65), The episode is also related in Huang Zongxi's (1610-95) preface to his Waiting for the Dawn (Mingyi daifan^ lu), with che folJowmg commenrs: "He [Wang Mian] died without having had an opportunity to try it out* I have not seen his book and cannot rell whether or not his idea£ might have brought peace and order* But since the cycle of disorder has still nor come to ail end, liow daifang tu, p. 1; could an era of prosperity have been brought aboutf (Huang Zongxi, trans* from Wm* Theodore de Bary, Waitingfor the Dawn— A Planfor the Prince: Huang Tsunghs\s uMing-i tai-fang luH [New York: Columbia University Press, 1993], p. 90)* Although the episode is found in many versions of Wang Mian's biography (including the one in the Ming it is omitted from the introductory chapter of Rulin waishi despite the novel’s focus on Confucian rituals and institutions* But wliat is missing from this chapter seems to emerge later in the novel and thu£ contributes to the formation of the larger matrix o f discourse on Confucian ritual in Kulin waishi

Atem porality, Closure, and Ascetic

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the zhcngshi nor only reinforce the novels repudiation o f official institutions, especially the civil service examinations, but also highlight its own nature and status as an informal, unofficial, private history. But why does

waishi, which claims a peripheral position for itself,

have to make a symbolic move toward the center in Chapter 56? W h y does W u Jingzi have to resort to the authority o f the court in the final judgment o f his literati characters? H is appeal to chat authority is further complicated by the fact that in the middle part o f the novel (Chapters 31 through 37) W u conjured up a binary structure of Beijing and Nanjing, the center and the lo­ cal, and defined the literati community in Nanjing by its rejection o f empty rhetoric and its commitment to ritualistic practice. Answering the above questions requires tackling the larger issues at stake in R«/m waishi In Part I, I show how the ritual project represented in Chapter 37 is sub­ ject to the test o f time as well as co complex social circumstances. Its critical stance is in the end reduced to the status o f a utopia or hope, a token protest raised in the name o f independent intellectuals. In ocher passages, the ascetic ritual degenerates into the antithesis o f its goal and becomes only an alterna­ tive way o f achieving control over mundane and symbolic resources. Instead o f providing the novel with an ultimate source o f moral authority, it is even­ tually incorporated into rhe central, official narrative. This thematic dilemma is coupled with a narrative one. I f W u Jingzi was eager to replace discourse with ritual, what was his relationship to che narrativity or rextuality o f his own work? Ir could well be that W u conceived o f his narrative as a means o f casting suspicion on the efficacy o f Confucian rhetoric. But unless he considered his own work practice rather than dis­ course, he must have recognized the contradictions in his account o f the rit­ ual. In fact, despite his reservations about discourse, all he offered in ics place in Chapter 37 is another type of discourse— a piece o f a written program for the Taibo ceremony that W an g Yuhui discovers on the wall o f the temple. I f Rwiirt waishi makes a strategic move to dismantle the conventional para­ digm o f novelistic and historical narrative, it is unable to build a true alterna­ tive. This is the issue I shall explore in Part IV .

P

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C onclusion

Riwiirt w aishi ends with the sacrifice and the panegyric dedicated to the de­ ceased literati, dated the year bingchen o f the W anli reign (1616). Xianzhai Laoren composed his preface to R ulin w aishi in a bingchcn year, tw o 60-year cycles later, in 1736; the correspondence between the two dates may hot be a coincidence. Some scholars argue that 1736 is also che year that W u Jingzi , started to write the novel, and that the date o f the preface is o f some signifi­ cance for W u Jingzi and the novel alike. Equally important to W u Jingzi is that in 1.736 the Qianlong emperor held the boxue h o n ^ i examination in hopes o f winning the support o f the literati; W u sat the primary sessions o f this special examination but did not follow through for some reason. W e may thus tentatively argue that W u Jingzis account o f the official posthu­ mous rewards o f the literati registers his ambivalence toward the court and official recognition and an unsettled psychological struggle between desire and resignation. It is fitting to recall once more that W u Jingzi modeled his literati Heroes on his friends and himself and that he based his narrative o f the Nanjing literaci circle, to a certain excent, on his own observation and experience. Daring the late 1740s or early 1750s, 2& he was writing the last part o f the novel, he projected his self-representation into the most undesirable part o f the past, the years o f the ultimate decline o f the Ming. A t the same time, he imagined a belated, posthumous official recognition o f his characters. In the

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end, the actual time (in which W u composed his novel) and the imagined time (in which he negotiated between the past and the future or rather, pro­ jected che liicure back into the past) are interwoven into such a n ‘intricate whole that no one, not even W u himself, it would seem, can escape the ulti­ mate irony that is history.

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N a rra tive a n d Cultural T ra n sform a tion

T h e vernacular hovel is a hybrid genre o f dubious origin. In its early stages, it was inextricably linked ro official historiography. So, often did it draw on the zhengshi narrative that it became, in a way, that genres ex­ tension and variation in the popular imagination. But folk literature also left an abiding imprint on the novel; its use o f the vernacular, the inclusion o f folk wisdom, and ics popular appeal relegated it to a lower status, as shown by such common appellations as yeshi, baishi, and waishi. So named, Rulin waishi stakes a claim to this dubious legacy. It,eschews folklore and makes no effort to appeal co the general reading public, but by firmly an­ choring the text as a watsbi, W u Jingzi secured a vantage point from which to scrutinize texts, motifs, and modes o f expression incorporated into the tradition o f the vernacular novel from various sources, including historiog­ raphy, Such scrutiny helps to define Rulin waisbis vernacular narrative as a reflexive rKedium; it questions the validity o f existing modes o f representa­ tion and forgoes narrative practice that would reproduce a textual model o f the valorized pasr.

waishi is thereby located not merely outside official

history but also beyond the lineage o f the vernacular novel. T o adequately measure Rm!i« waishi & narrative innovations, we must consider rhe long, complex process o f rransformation rhe vernacular novel underwent after its appearance in print form during the late fifteenth

N AR R AT I VE AND CULTURAL T R A N S F O R M A T I O N

174

century.1 T h e early vernacular novel is characterized by two traits. First, it combines history and Uneasy in recounting the cycle o f dynasties, military af­ fairs, historical adventures, and religious journeys, with chronology and biog­ raphy as its main organizing principles. Second, it frames its narrative with a simulated rhetoric o f storytelling presumably derived from the oral tradition o f urban entertainment and assures a consensus between the narrator and the reader through the illusion of face-to-face verbal communication/Neither the narrator nor the audience is specified or personalized; the narrator, who speaks in the storytellers anonymous, collective voice, embodies the con­ sciousness o f the imagined community, o f which his nonspecific reader is also a part.3 Th e literati played a crucial role in the formation o f the vernacular novel as a literary form, but their participation also engendered a series o f changes. For them, the question was how to accommodate che conventions o f this form in addressing their own concerns and consciousness. Literati editors often injected their own sensibilities, tastes, and idiosyncrasies into pre­ existing texts or oral narratives to produce what have become the received texts o f vernacular novels;4 they also engaged in a negotiation between offi­

1. The earliest extant work rhat can be called a "novel* is Sanguozhi tongsuyanyi (A popular explication o f The History of the Three Kingdoms), with two prefaces respectively dared 1494 and 1522, Although it bears significant resemblances to the earlier pin^jua editions of the same story (published in the fourteenth century), it has more in common with what would later be called zhan^jui xiaoshuo (fiction in sections and chapters)* 2. My account of the vernacular novels docs not include rhe fourtccnth-ccntury fin^ua of Chinese history, for the extant pingbua works, with a few exceptions show no substantial similarities with che zhan^jui xiaoshuo o f the subsequent periods in terms of language style, narrative mode, and structure. For 2 comprehensive study of th« fourrecnrh-cennjry pin^yua, see Idenu, "Some Remarks 2nd Speculations Concerning * 3. The vernacular novel is nor alone in this regard; it shares the same mode of narrative with the vernacular story. The formulaic rhetoric of storytelling can be traced to Tang dynasty (618-907) vernacular narrative texts discovered in the Dunhuang caves, especially the genre called hua or huahcn, as, for example, in “Lushan Yuangong hua” and "Han Qinhu huabcn广The narrators in these texts adopted storytelling rhetoric, which was elaborated in lare Ming vernacular stories_ citing common sayings in verse to support rhcir points and posing questions to their audience or from the audiences perspective, 4. Vhks argues that each o f the four major novels of the Ming dynasty (Tfcc Komanct of the T h m K i^dom sf TheJcuTncy to the Wtst, Water Mar^n, and Jin Pin^Mei) "represents not just the most elaborate reworking o f the respective narrative traditions, bur actually a thoroughgoing process of revision of these material^ one governed primarily by ironic treatment of the prior sources and popular images"* (see Tht Four Mastcrworks of tht Novel, 1987, p. x).

Introduction

175

cial ideology and popular demands, given the dual origins o f the vernacular novel in historiography and folk literature. Closely related to this effort is the tradition o f pingdian or commentary, which dates to the last decades o f the sixteenth century and flourished during the seventeenth century. Jin Shengcan (1608-61), for instance, was known for, among other things, his commentary edition o f Water Margin. Assuming the dual role o f commenta­ tor and editor, he projected his own vision o f the vernacular novel by radi­ cally remolding earlier versions o ( Water Margin (although he credited his changes to the "original" author); he offered an intensive, close reading o f the novel by employing methods hitherto applied mainly to elite genres and formal writing. H is commentary edition o f Water Margin subsequently be­ came a model for imitation.5 In the last decades o f che sixteenth century, the lirerati began to produce their own novels. Unlike almost all earlier novels, which developed from the repertoire o f professional storytellers, Jin Pin^Mei cihua offered a comprehen­ sive account o f Merchant Ximen's household, a private sphere never before rendered in publicly performed literature.6 Exploring a new territory for liter­ ary representation, Jm Ping M ei cihua is acutely aware o f its divergence from the established form o f the vernacular novel. It opens with W u Song, a largerthan-life hero from Water Margin, but places him in a prosaic world, o f daily chores that is alien and even hostile, thereby beginning a gradual deviation from its sources that will ultimately highlight the contrast wich ics acknowl­ edged model. Also unlike Water Margin, jin Ving M ei cihua is a highly incorporative, quasi-encyclopedic narrative. Packed into it is an extremely broad range o f texts and genres, such as jokes, popular songs, comic skits, and short stories, all made available to a wider audience than ever before because o f the contemporary boom in commercial publishing. T h e novelist devised a subtle and often ironic reading o f these borrowed texts by appropriating them for a variety o f occasions, and thus established this novel not merely as a hybrid genre but also as a highly reflexive form o f writing. After the fall o f rhe M ing in 1644, Jin Ping M ei cihua and other major Ming dynasty novels were often reinterpreted and rewritten in the form o f sequels (xusbu), so often that the second half o f the seventeenth century can

5‘ For Jin Shengtans commentary edition of Shuibu zbuan (preface dsccd 1641 and pub­ lished in 1644), see Jin Shen^tart quanji, vob-1 and 2. 6 -Jin

Pin客Mei cihwa began to be cwculated aitnong elite readers in nunuscripr form around

*S95;it was probably first printed in 1617.

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be called the age o f sequels/ Although they differed in style and varied in quality, these sequels had a common mission: tKey took what they inherited' from the earlier novels_ subject matter, characters, forms, and narrative schemata— as raw material; re-evaluated and reshaped them; and subjected them to other possible developments. In these works, we see an unfolding process o f systematic undermining or iconoclastic "decoding" o f the tradi­ tional paradigim o f the vernacular novel and related genres. O f course, not all the sequels shared this iconoclastic tendency, and even those chat did of­ ten differed in degree, if not in kind. But this trend does loom lairge in the vernacular stories of the time as well. T h e stories by Aina and L i Y u, for in­ stance, often set out to overturn stereotypes, undercut normative values, and debunk historical heroes; they are comic and sometimes blasphemous, and their targets are not confined to those of the vernacular tradition o f fiction. In an age o f political crises and intellectual divisions, these parodic narratives represented a major rupture in the symbolic world o f literary representation. W ith unmistakable moralizing zeal, Rulin waishi takes che vernacular novel in a new direction, but its parodic edge is reminiscent o f the iconoclastic

7. For instance, Ding Yaokang, a Ming loyali^tj composed Xu Jing Ping Mei (A sequel to [lie Jin Ping Mei; preface dated 1660); it was banned by the Qing auchorities, but an abridged version soon appeared under the title Cc lian huaying. The Journey to the West was subject ro re­ writing in several works. Dong Yue wrote Xiyou bu (A supplement to The Journty to the West) during th e 1640s. Other sequels to T ht Journey to tht West written arid published during the second half o f the seventeenth century and the first decade of the eighteenth century include Ho« Xiyou ji (commentary hy Tianhua caizi). O f the sequels to Water Margin composed dur­ ing the same period, Chen Chens Sbuihu houzhuan (1664 edition) is known for its political agenda and artistic achievement* Ir iniriaced a sequence o f che sequels to Water M a r^ n , including Hou SJjwtfctt zhuan (preface by Tianhua cang)* Historical romance has its own lineage and network of mutual borrowings and correspondences. One such work o f the same period was, for instance, called How Sanguozhiyanyi (A sequel co the Romance oj the Three Kingdoms), and Sanguozhi houzhuart (or Xu Sanguozhi) can be dated to the early seventeenth century (preface dated 1609), N ot all the sequels produced during this period bear the term xu or hou in their title; nor is the literary practice o f rewriting canonical stories o f the past confined to the genre of the novel (zhan^yui xiaoshuo). Aina Jm his Doupcng xia^hua represents a consistent effort to debunk historical personages; sec Patrick Hanan, The Chinese Vernacular Story, pp, 192-95* For the studies of late Ming and early Qing sequels^ sec Widmcr, T ht Margins of Utopia; Hegel, The Novel in Seventeenth-Century China, pp. 141-66; Brandauer, Tung Yueh and Significance of a Dogs Tail"; T . A* Hsia, *Ncw Perspectives onTw o Ming Novels**; Fu Shi^i, *Xiyou bumchutan; Mark Andres, ’ Ch’an Symbolism in Hsi-yu pu ',and Uu Xiaolian, M A Journey o f the M ind,

Introduction

177

narratives o f the seventeenth century. Th is part investigates the origins o f Rwlirt waishts art and insights by examining its critical reflection on the ideai, values, motifs, and the narrative schemata o f stotytelling thar consti­ tuted the tradition o f the vernacular novel. I hope to show that although Ru!m waishi follows the trends set b y its seventeenth-century predecessors, it represents a culmination o f their experiments and a form unprecedented in ficcion writing.

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6

Rulin waishi, the V ernacular N ovel, a n d the N arrator

Rulin waishts narrative innovations are manifest in, among other ways, its structure* Rather than adopting the conventional plot-oriented structure, the novel is composed o f loosely connected and even disjunctive episodes. N o major characters are present throughout; the transition from one chap­ ter to the next often introduces a new character, who is on his way some­ where else 2nd will be replaced by those he encounters in the following chap­ ter. This structure has long been a subject o f controversy among modem Chinese critics. Shuen-fu Lin. has dated criticism o f Rulin waisbCs lack o f a structural framework to the late Qing and early Republican period, when Chinese writers 2 n d critics were increasingly exposed to the influence o f western fiction and liccrary concepts. H u Shi, for instance, wrote in 1922 that Ru/m waishi "is entirely a series o f short stories lumped together. W hen sto­ ries are strung together, a book can become endlessly 】ong‘ Th is form is rhe easiest to learn and is also the most convenient to use. Therefore, this fic­ tional form which is made up o f short stories without an overall structure has become rhe general parrem for recent satirical novels广1

i. Hu Shi, ^Wushi nian lai Zhongguo zhi wenxue/ in idem, Hu Sbt gudian wenxue yanjiu funji, p. 140. In a critical response to H u Shis view, Shucn^fii Lin argues that traditional Chi­ nese cosmology had an impact on various aspects of Chinese culture including che narrative structure of tht vernacular novel; "Instead o f arranging events in a linear causal chain, che Chinese view them as forming one vast, interweaving, VcricuUr' relationship, or process. Events are no longer described as causally linked: they are simply connected or juxcaposed

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N AR R AT I VE AND CULTURAL T R A N S F O R M A T I O N H u Shi's description is not, however, entirely accurate. A s noted in

Chapter 5, many critics have pointed out that RhIiVi waishi adopts the inher­ ited frame o f the vernacular novel as exemplified by Water Margin, especially Jin Shengtans commentaiy edition. It begins with a standard prologue (xiezi), a term borrowed from that version o f Water Margin,2 T h e main body o f the novel is set apart in time and space from the incidents recounted in the prologue and reaches its culmination two-thirds o f rhe way through, in Chapter 37. A s is often the case in a vernacular novel, the culmination is a ceremony or other public event, involving a formal style o f writing (such as prayers, announcements^ and occasionally formulaic depictions o f che cere­ mony) and a listing o f those who take pare. Ru!m waishi adheres to this model by presenting the Taibo ceremony, the central event o f the novel, in the form o f the Confucian ritual manual (yizhu), although no earlier novels used yizhu this way, and following it with a complete list o f the participants (zbishi). T h e last chapter presents two lists; the first contains the names o f the main characters o f the novel, and rhe second ranks 55 o f them according to their virtue and rewards them with the degree o f palace graduate (jiiiibi) and official tides— which are again accompanied by such formal writings as imperial edicts and ceremonial prayers. A t a micro,level, R«ii« waishi also follows the conventions for linking dif­ ferent parts and forming contrasts and correspondences among the charac­ ters. One such device is to create a pair o f characters in consecutive chapters who share the same personal name (Zh o u Jin and Fan Jin in Chapters 2 through 4) or resemble each other in behavior (Kuang Chaoren in Chapters 15 through 20 and N iu Pulang in Chapters 21 through 14 ; to some extent, Zh o u Jin and Fan Jin also fall into this category).3 W u Jingzi's use o f two Jins (jin means "to enter," "to bring in/' or Mro present") to begin the main part o f the novel is reminiscent o f the similar function o f W ang Jin and Shi Jin in Water Mar^in^ T h e way in which

waishi links its characters to

one another also has precedents in Water Margin. Andrew Plaks has likened

side by side as if by coincidence. Thus the temporal sequence of the cause-and-effecr relation­ ship is instead £patialized into a dynamic pattern of juxtaposed concrete ^ cid en ts" ("Rimal and Narrative Structure in JuMn Wai-shih^ p* 250)* 2. See Rolston, Traditional Q?incsc Fiction and Fic(io« Commtntary, pp* 246-49, 319. 3_ These methods have often been highlighted in traditional commentary on Rtilin waishi* For modern studies of these devices, set Krai, "Several Artistic Methods in the Classic Chi­ nese Novel Ju 4in wai-shih,H 4* See Rolston, Traditional Chinese Fiction and Fiction Criticism, p, 321.

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the shifts in narrative focus in the part o f that novel retained by Jin Shengtan to the action o f a Tbilliard ball," as one member o f the group o f the 108 he­ roes' encounters another o f the same group.5 Th is technique is carried to an extreme in Rwlm waishi, where the shifts occur much more rapidly. However, Rulin waishis use o f the inherited frame and conventional orga­ nizing devices o f the vernacular novel should not blind us to its structural innovations. For one thing, Rulin waishi breaks with the grand narrative o f heroic adventures and historical romance and adopts instead an episodic mode as it moves to represent a world o f daily experiences caught in endless ironies. M o r e than a centu ry and a half before, Jin Ping M ei cihua had devel­ oped narrative techniques capable of capturing the patterns and rhythms o f the everyday lives o f ordinary men and women.6 However, Jin Ping M ei cihua did not adopt the same organizing principles as Ruli« waishi. Instead o f swift shifts o f focus both in space and from character to character, as in Rwlm wai­ shi, ir concentrates on Ximen Qing, his wives, and his sworn brothers, with his household in Qinghe as trhe central stage for their actions. Although Rulin waishi undeniably follows Water Margin in ics account o f the characters' encounters with one another on the road, the differences be­ tween the two novels are just as obvious. In its first half, Water Margin spends five to ten chapters on each o f its major heroes, such as Lu Zhishen, Lin Chong ;W u Song, Song Jiang, and Li Kui, and then brings them to­ gether in Liangshan, the geographical and thematic center o f che novel. In contrast, most o f the characters in

waishi make no more than a transi­

tory appearance and, with few exceptions, never return. N o r is the narrative anchored in a specific geographic locus. Nanjing seems to serve as such a center in Chapters 31 through 37, with characters converging in the Taibo temple for the ceremonial occasion, but this center does not hold. A s the ritual participants disperse, the temple becomes not a sice for action but an

5. Plaks, The Four Mastcrworks of the Ming Novel, p. 309. 6. It is perhaps no surprise that the publication of ]itt Pin^ Met cihua was followed by ef­ forts to contain the novel and make it more coherent and less monstrous than it is. The ef­ forts are exemplified in the Chongzhen edition of Jin Ping Mei, which streamlines Jin Ping Ma cihua by reducing the popular songs and other quoted texts, restructuring the beginning o f the novel, and diminishing what its editor sees as digressions. They are also reflected in Zhang Zhupo's (1670-98) comments on the Chongzhen edition o f Jtn Ping Mei, which see the novel as a carcfiilly structured whole, within which everything is interconnected or correspondent to everything else and, rherefore, no single stroke o f narrative is made arbitrarily. For Zliang’s commenrs, see Huang Lin, ed., "Jin Pin^ Mei* ziliao huibian, p. 68.

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illusory object for nostalgic longing and lamentation. Later characters who visit Nanjing find a deserted temple, thriving brothels, and scandalous lite­ rati gatherings: the ritual center is hopelessly contaminated and destroyed. T h is in part explains late Qing novelists fascination with Rulin waishi (as ob­ served by H u Shi): its episodic structure, which permits a broad coverage o f various and often unrelated social circles and locales, fueled their fin-de-siecle imagination with the vision o f a shattered world that has lost its center o f gravity and cohesion. Such a work can hardly fit within the pre-established frame o f the con­ ventional novel. In Kh/im waishi, this inherited structure seems at odds with che main body o f the novel. T h e internal tension is compounded by the in­ compatible narrative schemes and the textual sources associated with them: formal writing, an elevated tone, prophecy, an authorirative voice and judg­ ment, and a sense o f order and unity clash with narrative perspectivism 一 a threat to authoritative narrative in whatever form it takes- In Rulin waishi, narrative perspectivism is embedded in the episodic scheme. A s shown in Chapter 4, W u Jingzis incorporation o f widely circulated jokes and anec­ dotes into R«Iin waishi often creates the illuminating moment that exposes literati hypocrisy in d undercuts the unfolding o f what would otherwise;be Coniucian master plots (for example, in rhe biographies o f filial sons). T h e vernacular short story, which"flourished during the seventeenth cen­ tury, had just as much influence on the making o f

waishi. Unlike their

European counterparts, the Chinese vernacular novel and short story are, by and large, homogeneous forms with the same origin and narrative model.7 T o explain their development, we must consider their mutual borrowings and influences. H u Shi is right that Rulin waishi is indebted to the short story for its structural scheme, but he sees this in a negative light because the European novel is his normative model. Moreover, he refers to the short story in general and thus fails co specify its development during any specific era and its effects on Rulin waishi in particular. T h e period from 1620— when1Feng Menglong published the first o f his three collections o f the vernacular Stories Old and N ew (Gwjt'n xiaoibuo) 一 to the 1680s were the culmination o f the vernacular story in the late imperial

7. In European literature, the novel and the short story are not merely different in kind but also inherently at odds with each other: the novel derives from history and travel records; the short story from the conte or anecdote. For more discussion of this issue, see Hanan, The Chinese Vernacular Story, p. 22.

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era. This period was known both for the quantity and quality o f the short stories it produced and for their innovations in exploring a variety o f subject matter, forms, and styles; they are more sensitive than the novels and dramas o f that period in capturing the rapid changes in the mood and trends o f the contemporary culture. Their parody of stereotypes and common assump­ tions, their ironic voice and tone in accounts of literati inadequacy, hypocrisy, and moral corruption, and their relentless experiments with narrative forms, as well as rhe prevalence o f what might be called novellas and rhe various ways o f linking short episodes to form a longer narrative piece, suggest a new range o f possibilities for the vernacular novel, which as a genre was gradually gaining momentum during what was otherwise a period o f relative literary inactivity-8 It was not until the 1650s and 1660s that the vernacular novel re­ asserted its vitality in the form o f the sequel and other forms, which either radically rewrote previous works or opened them to new interpretations;9 some were obviously driven by the same parodic trend that informed contemporaty short stories and thus paved the way for the new kind of novel produced in the following centuiy. However, when Rtdin waishi appeared in the mid-eighteenth centuiy, the vernacular story as a genre seemed to have run its course*10 T h is was when the novel took over and absorbed the energy

8. This period produced few novels of great literary merit or influence, but it occupied an important position in the history of fiction criticism, for it was during this period that the an­ notated and commentary editions of the earlier novels mushroomed, following Jin Shengtans 1644 edition of Water Margin, Although new novels continued to emerge during the first four decades of the seventeenth century, they largely fell into the categories o f historical romance and erotic fiction (intertwined with romance— scholar-and-beauty fiction_ written in the semi-classical and vernacular languages): the romances are, with few exceptions, conventional and often mediocre, and erotic tales arc, in most cases, of little literary value m d hardly innovative» The last decades o f the Ming witnessed the rise of the vernacular novels concerning the current political and military affairs. These works were often caught between their inter­ est in ongoing, open-ended occurrences and their inherited framework of historical romance; see Chen Dadao, “Mingmo Qingchu shishi xiaoshuo de rese/' 9* Dong Yues Xiyou bu (1640s) was perhaps the earliest of this kind o( xushu;see Liu Fu, HXiyou bu 2uozhe Dong Ruoyu zhuang 10. The fall of the Ming in 1644 only temporarily interrupted the commercial publication of the vernacular fiction* Several authors (including Li Yu) remained prolific in producing vernacular stories, and commercial publishers were still interested in the collections o f short stories during the early decades of the Qing dynasty. However, the creative force rhat drove the lace Ming production of the vernacular story gradually waned. Some short-story collec­ tions published during this period were random assemblages of texts from earlier sources, as shown in Ba duanjin (Zuiyuclou edition)* Commercial publishing seemed to focus more on

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o f vernacular stories into a more ambitious and all-encompassing form o f literary representarion* Critics have long recognised rhe impact o f the vernacular stories o f the seventeenth cenrury on Rulin waishis negative porrra^al o f the literati and the civil service examination/1 Rulin waishi also shares their ironic vein, despite its differences in emphasis, tone, and narrative style— a subject to which I shall soon return. For now, it is important to point out that these short sto­ ries and novellas influenced Rulin waishi in many other ways as well* In nu­ merous collections o f vernacular fiction o f the time, we see a common trend o f constituting a single narrative by linking rwo or more chapters (hui);12 even unrelated, independent stories are often numbered as consecutive chaptcvs, as if they formed a continuous narrative,13 Sometimes, framing devices are used: the first and last stories o f the collection discuss the concepts run­ ning throughout the collection;14 in other cases, the stories are constructed around"the same symbol or motif, as, for example, in Li Y u s The Twelve Towers (Sbi'er1 !o«)/5 Putting these episodes or stories together in a single vol­ ume does not result, even approximately, in a novel, buc it certainly would require little additional effort to make a longer, continuous narrarive out of longer narrative forms, such as the historical romance, scholar -and- beauty fiction, and erotic novels and novellas. This trend became conspicuous in the eighteenth century when fewer new collections o f vernacular stories were published, and literati authors seemed to Have lost interest in this genre, 11,For instance, jwii« 3 o(Yuanyangzhcn features 6u Hcng as a false whose claims to be talented in both poetry and civil examination essays lead only to humiliations. For more information regarding this subject, see Yenna Wu, Ameliorative ^Satire and the SeventeenthCentury Chinese Novel, pp* 30-32, ii. For instance, Guzhangjuc chen (preface dated 1631) consists o f four stories (under the general rubrics wind, flowers, snow, and moon), each consisting of ten chapters, 13- Zui xingshi, an early Qing collection of vernacular stories by Donglu gukuang sheng, has 15 chapters (hui); the heading of each chapter is written in a parallel couplet, as normally is the case in a vernacular novel. But the story given in each of these chapters is self-contained and unrelated to those iti the previous or the following chapter* 14^ Xihujiahua (preface dated 1673) features sixteen independent stories about West Lake in Hangzhou. The first gives an account of Ge Hong, a Taoist recluse o f the Jin dynasty, and the last is a story about Shen Zuhong, a Ming dynasty scholar who gave up his career and be­ came a Buddhist* The two chapters carry a heavy dose of discourse on Taoism and Buddhism as a way of elucidating the common theme o f che collection. ■15. In Icile Talk Under the Bean Arbor (Doupeng xianhua)f a late Ming or early Qing collecrion by Aina, twelve meetings under the bean arbor form a frame story. Although the twelve sto­ ries (ze) told in these meetings are disconnected, each o f them is a response to the discussions and debates that follow the previous one*

R u lin waishi, the Vernacular N o vel, and the N a rrato r them, whatever it might be called; A s shown in Jin

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Mei cihua more than

a century and a half before, the vernacular novel kept renewing its creative energy b y incorporating all existing narrative devices, motifs, and modes o f writing. Emerging after the peak o f the vernacular stories, Rwitii waishi availed itself o f all they had to offer. Needless to say, it presents a much more complex structure; contrary to H u Shi, it is more than a simple accu­ mulation o f individual stories. More often than not, however, it does allow individual characters to carry the narrative from one section to the next, and it is thus more susceptible *than most earlier novels to the principles by which short stories are organized. Moreover, its ability to combine different narrative, tones (such as the ironic and^tHe lyrical), ics swift: shifts from one character to another, and its way o f connecting otherwise unrelated episodes suggest a new sort o f dynamics at work. Another way o f measuring

waisbis narrative originality is to exam­

ine its from what Patrick Hanan describes as the i- departure r '••r "simulated context o f storytelling.’’16 In the case,o f premodern Chinese vernacular fiction, almost all the novelists imitate the voice o f the professional storyteller, even though they and their, readers are far removed from the entertainment center o f the marketplace* Although this simulated rhetoric o f face-ro-face srorytelling is by no means confined ro Chinese literature, its prevalence and longev­ ity in Chinese fiction are certainly unparalleled/7 Obviously, this mode con­ sists o f more than inherited narrative devices and formulas; it is closely bound up with the common values, assumptions, and attitudes that are em­ bodied by the storytellers anonymous, collective voice in addressing the as­ sumed audience, which is equally undifferentiated. This does not mean that all vernacular fictions that use the simulated rhetoric o f stoiytelling necessarily fall into the category I call ^authoritative narrative/* T h e novelists o f the M ing and Qing era became increasingly in­ terested in experimenting with the model o f storytelling; some o f them even went so far as to play with it or diminish the simulated voice o f the story­

16, Hanan, The Chinese Vernacular Storyt pp+ 20-22, 17* In contrast with Chinese vernacular fiction, which persistently adheres to the model of oral fiction, in European fiction, "the gestures and signals of the storyteller (perpetuated in the English novel well beyond 1857)" and °the coordinates of a facc-ro-facc storytelling institution/' according to Frcdric Jameson, are effectively disintegrated ^by the printed book and even more definitively by the commodification of literature and culture' (T/?c Political Vnconscioust pp* 154-55). Sec also Rolston, Traditional Chinese Fiction and Fiction Commentary, pp. 231-32.

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teller as they delve further into the literati world and explore more delicate human affairs than any authoritative voice can cope with. R«/ih waishi occu­ pies an important place in this process o f narrative innovation, and my read­ ing o f the novel in this part begins with a careftil elaboration o f the signifi­ cance o f irs deviation from this simulated mode. M any critics have agreed that the emergence o f Rulin waishi in the mideighteenth century marked a new stage in the history o f the Chinese novel, but what this means has yet to be adequately explained. C . T . Hsia is correct in describing W u Jingzi as a great innovator o f narrative rhetoric. Unlike most previous and contemporary novels, which are still "obliged to adopt the rhetorical conventions o f professional storyteller,"

waishil,, Hsia asserts,

is far less dependent on these conventiom. Its author, W u Jingzi, to be sure, still ob­ serves the minimal formal requirements: each of his fifty-five chapters employs an antithetical couplet for its heading and nearly every one begins with the phrase huashuo (It is now cold) and ends wich four lines of verse followed by che formula, *To know what followed, you must listen to the next round of recital." But songs and verse descriptions are conspicuously absent. For the first time in a major ver­ nacular novel, descriptive passages are completely integrated with the narrative text because they are now recorded in colloquial prose. In his avoidance of the standard poetic vocabulary, the author has actually relied on Kis own observations o f persons and places. In addition to the changes in form, the absence o f the traditional narrator is accompanied b y an innovation: "the technique o f character portrayal": An earlier novelist usually assumes the role of a puppet-master who introduces his marionettes one by one and cells us who they are and whit they arc about, W u Jingzi, however, no longer bluntly guides the reader but places them in a dramatized scene. As the actors in chat scene go about their business and talk about sundry mat­ ters, they gradually reveal themselves. Hsia concludes: "For a novelist today, the advantages o f indirect dramatic presentation are o f course caken for granted, but W u Jingzi was certainly the first Chinese to make regular, deliberate use o f chis method 广18 However, since the characters in Rultrt waishi are not adequately or explic­ itly guided by the narrator, the question o f narrative authority arises: uW hose words," C . T . Hsia asks, "can be trusted when contradictory reports

18. See C. T . Hsia, The Classic Chinese Novel, pp. 104, 215, zi8.

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o f a characters behavior are given?"19 Instead o f pursuing an answer to this question, however, Hsia brackets it and suspends rhe search for an explana­ tion. Tim othy W o n g notices the ambiguities Hsia and other scholars have encountered in interpreting the novel, but he tends to explain them away technically and historically: *In dramatizing his message, the narrator subtly manipulates the reader, R o w in g him to make his own discoveries while maintaining the illusion that whatever conclusions he comes to are indeed his own.” However, "given the unfemiliarity o f most modern readers with the conditions satirized, these conclusions are not always obvious, and con­ flicting judgments are inevitable." Although he admits all che difficulties o f interpreting this novel, he nevertheless asserts: "If Rwlin waishi is true satire, its moral concern should be clear and well-indicated throughout; it should not need to be salvaged by a great deal o f rationalization."*0 In Traditional Chinese Fiction and Fiction Commentary, David Rolston offers two observations on R«im waishi relevant to this issue: first, Ru/irt waishi "represents perhaps the most extreme developmenc o f the suppression o f the traditional narrator广 Second, extant Qing dynasty commentaries on Rulin waishi “show that premodem readers did not have the problems with this texr thac modem readers have had."21 A s I shall show, Rolsron s second ob­ servation needs to be modified. For now, however, it suffices to point our that premodern commentators on fiction were keenly conscious o f their own role as guides for readers. Confessing their own confusion in the reading o f a given work would contradict the role they were claiming for themselves. T h e fact that few o f them complained about the ambiguities o f M ing-Q ing fic­ tion does not necessarily mean that all these works can be adequately under­ stood in terms o f the established narrative and interpretive modes. T h e most important question to be raised here is: W a s W u Jingzi's narrative experi­ ment merely a technical innovation, or did it result in fundamental changes in how the novelist conceives and organizes his narrative, the way he per­ ceives and represents the world, and even the assumptions he makes about the readers? A n examination o f selected episodes from Rulin waishi will help answer these questions.

19* Ibid., p. iia. Wong, Wu Cbin^Tzu, Rolsron, Traditional Chirtese Fiction and Fiction Commentary, pp,

10. 11.

pp. 61-62,107,

312-13.

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The hongsan Episode In Chapter 28, the prior o f a monastery, celebrating his official appointment, holds a feasr in a Buddhisc remple wich nearly five dozen official guests from the county and city ^amens. Th is splendid show opens, however, with a scandalous scene o f cross-dressing, a reversal o f gender roles, and 2 playful appropriation o f language in an inappropriate situation* Longsan, "a swarthy man with brown eyes and a bushy mustache广shows up unexpectedly at the feast in

paper chaplet, a womans blue cotton tunic, white skirt and large

embroidered slippers/' with wtwo chair-bearers standing in the courtyard * . . waiting for their fare广Y et nothing is said co introduce Longsan or explain his relationship to the prior. Th e narrator's voice falls silent, leaving the ac­ tors to represent themselves. As soon as rhe stranger [Longsan] caught sight of the prior, he smiled broadly. "Tve come early, husband; to see to eveiything for you on this happy day,” he announced. 41Will you pay the chair-bearers for m c f (R. 393; S. 314) In public Longsan calls the prior "husbancT and speaks in the w ay a legiti­ m ate w ife would* It is obvious that Longsan does nor mean w hat he saysT h e conversarion is a gam e o f w ords, a play between whac is told and what rem ains untold, and between the w ords and their con tin gen t circum stantial references. "What is it this time, Longsan?" demanded the prior with a frown* wWhar a specta­ cle ^ourc making of yourselfT He made ha^te to pay the bearers* "Come on now, Longsan广he urged, "Take off those clothes! Do you want to look a figure of fun^ "How heartless you are, husband!" responded Longsan reproachfully* “You’re an official now, yet you haven’t given me the gold chaplet and fine scarlet costume an official s wife should wear, so I've made a paper chaplet for myself* Let people laugh if they like, Fm your wife, arent I? W hy should you tell me ro take it off广 "Longsan! This is no time for joking! Even if you were angry with me for not inviting you toda^, yon should have come in 2 decent manner. W hy dress up like this?" wHow can you say such a thing, husband? A quarrel between Husband and wife never lasts overnight. How could I be angry with you?1’ TU admit I was in the wrong," said the prior. “You had a right to be annoyed when I didn't invite you today. But take off those clothes now and sit down to have a drink. Dont pretend to be a loon*" T m the one in the wrong,1' said Longsan. "A wife should stay in the inner cham­ bers preparing refreshments, peeling fruit, and supervising the preparations. Who

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ever heard of a woman sitting in the hall? Would noc other people say there is no distinction of the inner chamber and the outer chamber in your households There­ upon he sailed into the bedroom. ,fLongsanr cried the prior, following him in helplessly, “You wont be able to get away with any of your tricks today! And if the yamen officials hear of this, itll look bad for both of usf T)on_r worry, husband! It is well put in these words of the ancients: "Officials can't interfere in family disputes," While the prior stamped with rage, Longs an sat himself calmly down and called for the novice* M Tell the tea attendant to bring the mistress tea!" he ordered (il. 393-94; S, 314-15) In his dialogue with the prior, Longsan persists in using language appropri­ ate to the wife’s role he claims for himself. 丁 his becomes the priors night­ mare, for it seems to disclose, although in a distorted way, their secret sex­ ual affair. T h e priors desperate effort to silence Longsan only reinforces our suspicions. In the middle o f the conversation, Longsan deliberately misinterprets the priors embarrassment. A s if unwilling to upset him, he pronounces that as the priors wife he should stay within the inner chambers rather than show himself in public. T h is embarrasses the prior even more. A s the narrative continues, more characters participate in the dialogue, but their voices either undercut one another or betray them­ selves* *Is that Longsan?" said Jin, who recognized him. "You dog! After swindling dozens of taels from me in the capital, how dare you show yourself here in this costume? You re obviously up to your old tricks again, you miserable swindler! Take that chaplet and clothes off him!” he ordered his servaat-boy, wThcn throw him out!" At that Longsan lost his head, and removed his chaplet and clothes himself. T m just here to wait on you, sir/' he said humbly* wWho wants you waiting on him?* roared Jin, “You were trying to cheat the prior here! Later on I don't mind asking him to give you some money to start a business, but if you make any more trouble now, FU have you sent straight to the yamenr When Longsan, all his bluster gone, had thanked Jin Dongya and slunk off, the prior cook his guests downstairs, greeted them again, and begged them to be seated. He could not thank Jin enough! (R. 397; S. 316) Longsan indeed makes a fool o f himself* But those who ridicule him lay themselves open to ridicule. Am ong the priors guests, it is Jin Dongya who stops the farce; his voice, charged with righteous indignation, reminds us o f the appropriate attitude to take toward a swindler. Y et we m ^y find it diffi­ cult to join Jin Dongya in condemning Longsan, since he is himself part o f

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the scandal he explicitly reproaches and his fu ry is suspect from the very be­ ginning. A s Longsan unw ittingly reveals, Jin w as once trapped in the same situation the prior is in, and probably for the sam e reason. L o n g san s farce conjures up concealed scandals and hidden lives. L ongsan in disguise is a m aster o f unm asking. H is clowning does not allow us to take anyone's words at face value. T h e discrepancy between assertion and m eaning is part o f its logic. T h e very effort to discredit Longsan is subjected to the same logic it openly renounces. T h ro u g h o u t the entire scene, the narrator does not offer us a privileged and unified view point from which to approach the dialogue. C haracters p re­ sent them selves in conversation, w hich unfolds w ith out the m ediation o f the narrator’s voice. W h e n Longsan is introduced, the only thing w e learn about him com es from the statem ent o f the novice: "T h a t fellow is here a g a in : T h e report is made, however, not to us but to rhe prior, w h o im m ediately know s w ho is m eant: "Is it that wretch Longsan?" (R . 393; S. 314). Both the novice and the prior are fam iliar w ith "that fellow" o r "that wretch.” T h e im ­ plication is chat Lon gsan has been a frequent and unwelcom e visitor. W e do noc kn ow che purpose o f his past visits, but we are told that this time “he is u p to even stranger tricks." T h ese tw o or three sentences allude to m any sto­ ries about Longsan, but they are neither explained nor confirm ed. From tKe very beginning readers are denied access to che knowledge o r inform ation that both the novice and the prior share. T h is w ould perhaps have struck Q ing readers as stranger than it does us, since the narrative conventions fam iliar to them w ould have led them to ex­ pect m ore assured i f not m ore authoritative guidance. A t the end o f the pas­ sage quoted above, a Q in g com m entator wrote: After Longsan is gone, there must be a few more words about who he is and where he is from. I suppose that the author is so afraid thac such an introduction would tarnish his narrative that he skips it. Or perhaps the people present at the scene were as smart as we readers and thus are able to catch the meaning of the story, and so they do not even bother to ask*. Indeed, the com m entator is correct that in a conventional novel, i f the narra­ tor failed to provide an introduction for a character, he w ould m ake up for ir by offering some concluding rem arks about him either directly o r indirectly-

22. This comment was made by Zhang Wenhu, a late Qing commentator on Rulin watsbi. See Li Hanqiu, ed., waishi" huijiao huipin玄 ben, p. 395.

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T h is com m ent, however na'ive ic m ay sound to m odern critics, is valuable in rem inding us o f Q in g readers expectations o f the traditional narrative mode. T h e absence o f the narrator left Q in g readers w ith no absolute assurance o f interpretation. Longsan not only oversteps the role o f the narrator in his self­ representation but also does so by appropriating "com m on discourse,” which is often expressed in the n arrators voice. T o explain this point, I shall expli­ cate w h at I m ean by com m on discourse and discuss its relationship w ith che n arrators voice in rhe sim ulated m ode o f storytelling.

The Formation of Common Discourse B y "com m on discourse," I refer to the popular version o f Confucian d is­ course, w hich is m ixed w ith o r com plem ented by values and w isdom draw n from other sources. M y definition em phasizes noc the projection o f ruling class ideology on com m oners but the construction o f com m on values through oral and written discourse open to all ? 3 T h e discourse so defined is collective in nature. It is both im perative and indicative; it provides a stable structure o f values to m ake sense o f the w orld, and in this sense it also p ar­ ticipates in the construction o f reality. In the episode under discussion, com m on discourse is exem plified in the language that Longsan uses. W h e n describing his com m itm ent to his female role, Longsan resorts to phrases often found in jjopiilar editions o f C o n fu ­ cian texts. " A wife should stay in the inner cham bers, preparing refresh­ ments, peeling fruit, and supervising the preparations," Longsan declares. "W h o ever heard o f a w om an sitting in the hall? W o u ld not other people say there is no distinction o f the inner cham ber and the ourer cham ber in your household?" H is speech echoes the prescriptions for wives to be found in, for instance, Etiquette and Ritual (Y tli) and The Analects (Lunyu), and, perhaps more relevant, in such popular Confucian texts as Required Readings {Rensbeng

23. Riymond WUliamss articulation of the difference between Marxist ideology and Gramscfs hegemony provides a frimc of reference for my definition o f common discourse; in Gramscis theory: "What is decisive is not only the conscious system o f ideas and beliefs [the expression or projection of ruling class interest known is .ideology* in conventional Marxist political theory], but the whole lived social process 2s practically organized by specific and dominant meanings and valu«_ (Marxism and Literature, p. 109). On the implications of Gramscis term whegcmonyw for the popular culture of Uce imperial China, see Johnson, •Communication, Class, and Consciousness in Late Imperial C hina:

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bidu shu) and Analects for Females (N ii lunyu).24 A b rie f exam ination o f these popular texts will tell us m ore about the com m on discourse and the w ay it is sh ap ed transm itted, and transform ed. Because o f the spread o f print culture and the literatis increasing interest in education, popular editions o f Confucian texts came into w ide circulation in the S o n g and afterw ard *25 T h re e prim ers, The Trimctrical Classic (Sanzi jing), The Hundred Names (Baijiaxin^), and The Thousand-Character Classic (Qianzi wen), constituted the M in g and Q ing elem entary curriculum . A num ber o f variations existed and were com plem ented by num erous se­ quels *26 M a n y other educational texts were also in circulation* In both verse and prose, they fall into such categories as miscellaneous glossaries (zazi), historical anecdotes (m en^iu), and collections o f ethical m axims, proverbs, and canons o f conduct

Linder the rubric elem entary learning (mengxue),

language textbooks were often com bined wich m orality books ($han$hu)f conduct books, and social handbooks *27 A lo n g w ith the developm ent o f ele-

24. The Required Readings, edited by Tang Yixiu of the Qing dynasty, was intended as an instruction book for females* The Analectsfor Femalcst one of the earliest texts for female edu­ cation, is attributed to Song Ruo^hao of the Tang dynasty* The Five Traditional Canons (Wuzhongyigui), edited by Chen Hongmou and published in 1740, included both the Rfqwirai and the Analectsfor Females in vol* 6 under the rubric of "The Traditional Rules for the Daughters" (jiaonu yigui). The Analects for Females also appeared in the Four Books for Fe­ males edited by Wang Xiang, a Qing scholar who was known for, among other things, his contribution to the development o f "elementary learning" (mengxue), For the wife’s role iii en­ tertaining guests, see Section 10, ''Entertaining Guests’’ (“Daike") of AnaUcts Jor Females in Chen Hongmou, Wuzhong yigui, vol. 6, juan %\ gb. See also the Required Readings in Chen Hongtnou, Wuzhongyi^ii, voL 6, juan 3 :17a. 25, O f all the Song scholars who participated in editing the primers for children and the illiterate in general, Zhu X i was rhe most eminent. He nor only defined a new Confucian curriculuin but also edited a textbook entitled Elementary Learning (Xiaoxue). Elementary Learning includes primarily the speeches of ancient sages, complemented by ethical maxims, historical anecdotes, arid poems* For a discussion of Zhu X is new Confucian education project, see de Bary, "Chu Hsi’s Aims as an Educator广 26* For the texts, including variations and sequels, of these three primers, sec Qiao Sang and Song Hong, ed., Mengxue quamhut pp. 1-63. Sec Zhang Zhigong, Chuantong yuwenjiaoyu chutan, for a systematic study o f the elementary learning and curriculum in premodern times, 27* What I call "common discourse" is thus a mixture of elements from various sources; including Buddhisr concepts o f karma and retribution. But these concepts were already ab­ sorbed into a set of widely circulated values, and their Buddhist origins had become almost secondary, if not obscure* Sec Cynthia Brokaws discussion of the morality books and the ledgers of merit and demerit {gongguo ge) in The Ledgers of Merit and Demerit* See also Ogawa Yoichi, M Mingdai xiaoshuo y\x shanshu/'

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m entaty learning, the second h a lf o f the M in g period witnessed the flourish­ ing o f publishing enterprises oriented tow ard popular consum ption .28 It was in this realm o f popular cultural production that Confucian discourse be­ came part o f a com m on discourse* N eed less to say, the very process o f dissem inating C o nfucian values in­ volved negotiation and compromise* C onsensus was reached only when Confucian m orality w as fused w ith, or turned into, a consciousness uncriti­ cally absorbed as com m on sense ,29 T h e com position o f the com m onsensical Confucian discourse is probably best illustrated in a variety o f collecrions o f w ell-know n sayings. In these books, Confucius's w ords are ju xtaposed or m ixed w ith proverbs, ethical m axim s, m oral or practical advice, and old say­ ings that convey the sensibilities as well as the w isdom o f w orldly experi­ ence ,30 T h is is the storehouse o f shared cultural attitudes and stereotypes as w ell as the kin d o f knowledge that is generally accepted or taken for granted. A s a m axim goes, “Y o u w ill not be well equipped to speak unless you study

The Enlarged Edition of the Comprehensive Collection of Worthies Words (Zcng Guan^cianwcn); you w ill not be well equipped to travel unless you study The Essence of Elementary Learning (Youxue

T h e se texts provided m od ­

28. As some scholars have noted, publishing culture developed rapidly during the six­ teenth and seventeenth centuries, Dorothy Ko describes this development in terms of "the transition from rhe age o f qualify prinring to thar of quantity printing" (Ttachers of the Inner Ckambers, p. 35). See also Oki Yasushi, ''Minmatsu Konan ni okcru shuppan buaka no kenkyu r;and Zhang Xiumin, Zhongguoyittshua shif pp. 678-729, 29. Antonio Gramsci s discussion of "common sense" and "good sensewis relevant to the topic in question* The editors' footnote to Gramscis Prison Notebooks provides a concise defini­ tion of these terms: "Broadly speaking, "common sense' means the incoherent set of generally held assumptions and beliefs common to any given society, while good sense means practical empirical common sense in the English sense of the termw(see Gramsci, Sekctionsfrom the Prison Notebooks, p, 323»i)* See also Gramsci, Sclcctiomjrom Cultural Writin^sf pp. 189,417-18, 30* Childrens Words {Xiao'tr yu)t The Rules for Children (Dizi The Comprehensive Collectitm oj Wortfciej' Wonij (Guan^cianji), and the Edifiow oj the Comprehensive Coiltfcffort oj Worthier Words (Zeng GuangKianwcn), to name only a few of the texts widespread during late imperial times* 31. See Qiao Sang and Song Qi, Mengxuc quanshuf p* 1897. Sec also Youxue qion^int p* 8. This remark draws an interesting parallel with Confuciuss comments on the Boofe oj Odes in the AWecti (Book 16): “Unless you study the Book of Odes, you will be ill-equipped to speak," Confuciuss assertion can be better undemood wirh reference to the convention of using the of Odes in oratory during the Spring and Autumn period (770-256 b c e ) . l a Book 13 of rhe Anakcts, Confiicius sees the Book of Odes as the model not only for public speech but aJso for social practice; "The Master said: _A man may be able to recite the Book of Odes; yet if,

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els for speaking and resources o f knowledge essential not only to moral edu­ cation but also to worldly affairs. Through the transmission o f printed texts, this common discourse was integrated into the concrete, lived social processVernacular fiction played a significant role in shaping and spreading the common discourse* M any proverbial expressions and common sayings in­ cluded in 2. variety o f social handbooks first appeared in fiction. In other cases, fiction drew on these handbooks* A s in A Segwe/ to Childrens Words (X u xiao’er yu)f a late M ing elementary text, such discourse is self-affirming: "D on’t make the people your enemy; dont defy common opinion (gonglun)!tn T h e authority o f one common opinion found in these books— "Better to have rhe world wrong me than to wrong the world"33— is demon­ strated, for instance, in The Romance o f the Three Kingdoms, a M ing dynasty historical romance: Cao Cao, an absolutely evil character, is portrayed as acring on the motto ^Better to wrong the world than have it wrong me/' the re­ verse o f the common saying.34 By maintaining the boundaries between good and evil, common discourse provides the normative structure o f values for organizing the fictional world, T o understand the mechanics o f common discourse in the construction o f vernacular fiction, we have to consider the role o f the simulated storyteller* A s I shall argue, the dominance o f common discourse over the narrative

when entrusted with governmental responsibility, he docs not know how to act, or if, when sent on a mission to any quarter o f the kingdom, he cannot give his replies unassisted^ how­ ever extensive his learning may bepof what practical use is it广 Confucius expounded his views o f the Boofe oj Odes in the following passage [The Analects, Book 17}: "The Master said: 'My children, why do you not study the Book o/ 0(Jcj? For the Boofe of Odts will help you to incite peoples emotions, to observe, to keep company to express your grievances. From it you learn the more immediate duty of serving your father, and the remoter one of serving your lord* From it you also become largely acquainted with the names of birds, beasts, planes, and trees/” I f the Boofe of Odes, as Confucius suggested, provides the source of knowledge and lan­ guage, it had compelling equivalents in later imperial times* The old saying quoted above at­ tests to the importance of popular written materials in shaping common discourse and daily activity,

32- See Qiao Sang and Song Hong, Mcngxuc quanshu, p* 103*

33- Sec GuangXianwtn (Enlarged edition of TIjc Comprelienjivc Co(lec(io« 0/Wrorffci«, Words) and Ztng ^uang Xianwen (Rc-edited version of the Comprehensive Collection oj Worthies Words), in ibid” pp. 137,177,

34* The episode occurs in Chapter 4 of Tl?e Jlcwiflttcc oj the Three Krngdom* When Chen Gong tries to stop Cao Cao from killing innocent people, Cao Cao retorts: "Better to wrong the world than have it wrong me' (Luo Guanzhong, Sanguo yanyi, p* 49; trans, from Roberts, Three Kingdoms, p, 38).

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w orld o f fiction is achieved m ost visibly through rhe agent o f the conven­ tional narrator_ an anonym ous speaker o f the collective voice.

The Narrator and Common Discourse In reading such fiction, we can hardly overestim ate the significance o f the narrator, w hose voice permeates che entire srrucrure o f rhe w o rk and gives if a sense o f coherence. M od eled on the storyteller, the narrator resorts to an anonym ous, collective, and socially approved voice, w hich exists prior to any specific utterance .35 U n lik e the discourse enacted between the characters, the narrators utterances consist o f highly stylized language in the form o f verse, parallel prose, and proverbs, and his adoption o f the sim ulated rhetoric o f storytelling provides him an entry into the storehouse o f com m on discourse com posed o f shared attitudes, values, and cultural assum ptions, T h e narra­ tor is accordingly able to prom ise i f nor the victory o f virtue over evil at least a m orally intelligible universe, Ju sr as im portant is the very form o f sim ulated storytelling— the w ay rhe narrator projects the image o f his assum ed audience and m anipulates their responses, as well as the sense o f authenticity he evokes through sim ulated face-to-face conversations with rhat audience. In the voice o f the stoiyreller, the narrator often questions readers (addressing them as kanguan— or "you honorable viewers”) or h im self from their perspective (referring to h im self as sbuoshude— "the speaker o f [what is] written” 一 or shuohuade— "the speaker o f the tale”), H is ability to switch roles w ith his audience evokes a specific context o f im agined dialogue w ithin which they participate in a series o f col­ lective exchanges. R ath er than im posing his voice from w ithout, the conven­ tional narrator speaks, not for him self, but on b eh alf o f 'u s/' rhat is, his as­ sum ed audience. 丁 his is how he gains acquiescence to his version o f the story: since he is faceless, undifferentiated, and w ith ou t individual identity, his assum ed audience 一 m em bers o f the im agined com m unity that he repre­ sents— m ust share w ith him som e basic know ledge and assum ptions. In ocher w ords, in his occasional use o f the second-person pronoun in direct speech to his assum ed audience, the narrator presupposes that ’’you" are one o f Musw and thus reinforces the solidarity o f this im agined com m unity on the basis o f shared attitudes, vocabulary, and values. M oreover, by fram ing his narrative w ithin a sim ulated conversation w ith the im aginary recipient, he

35. See David Wang, "Storytelling Context in Chinese Fiction."

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calls attention to the present cense o f storytelling, thereby giving his voice a sense o f im m ediacy and authenticity that enhances ics pow er o f persuasion. I f the n arrators willingness to intervene in the w orld o f reality is reflected in sim ulated dialogues w ith his assum ed audience, it is also im plied in his control over the fictional world. Insofer as thar w orld stands for the actual world, the n arrators control over it is a sym bolic effort to organize or re­ structure reality. H o w does the n arrators voice, which crystallizes the collec­ tive consciousness o f the Imagined com m unity, achieve dom inance over the fictional w orld o f a given story? T h e m echanics o f this inherited m ode o f narrative that guarantee the narrator's authority are clear. First and m ost im portant, the simulaced con ­ text o f storytelling allows only the n arrators voice to signify directly. E n jo y­ ing a privileged status, the narratorial discourse exists on a different plane from the characters' discourse, which is represented and therefore secondary; the latters varying relation to the "truth” m ust be m easured by its degree o f approxim ation to or divergence from the form er. A s m entioned above, the narrator so conceived is seldom individualized. Indeed, the highly form ulaic language used by the narrator prevents us from regarding his narrative as the product o f individual, partial observations and judgm ents. T h e authority o f his voice lies precisely in its capacity to go beyond the level o f the individual and personal. Second, the em ploym ent o f an om nipotent viewpoint enables the narra­ to r to perceive the w orld in a w ay im possible in our daily life. H e know s m ore than could be know n by an ordinary individual and presents an unre­ stricted view o f reality that w ould otherwise be unattainable. H ow ever, in order to grasp the unfolding story, we have to accept whatever the narrator offers. W ith unchallenged authority, he prom ises a w orld m ore definite than the one around us, a w orld whose secret life is com pletely visible. I f it has not been fully explained, it is ac least explicable. In fiction so conceived, the narrator is neither a dispensable device nor an out-of-date decoration; rather, his presence ensures intelligibility. T h is m ode, however, is not given or im m utable. In reality, a novelist faces a w ide range o f choices as he adapts received conventions in his own work. Speakin g in the anonym ous, collective, and socially approved voice, he m ay find h im self in tension w ith the com plex social and historical situations he is trying to represent in the fiction. Even w hen the storyteller com m ands the narrative, there is much m aterial that cannot be easily subordinated to narra-

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torial discourse. H ow ever, rather than dispense wich rhe rhetoric o f sim u­ lated storytelling altogether, the novelists o f the M in g and Q in g periods o f­ ten made their own accom m odations w ith it and adjusted the narrators voice as necessary. T h e com m on discourse is by definition a m ixture o f C o n ­ fucian ideas and com m on sense and is thus open to negotiation and com ­ prom ise. In describing a com plex situation o f a delicate nature, an author m ay assum e a double role, claim ing for h im self the persona o f a public speaker but introducing a much m ore tolerant:, sym pathetic private voice that allows a great deal o f am biguity and circum stantial judgm ent. O ne such exam ple can be found in the opening section o f "T h e PearlS ew n S h irt" ("Jiang X in gge chonghui zhenzhu shan"), one o f rhe stories in Feng M en glo n g s Stories Old and New , 36T h e narrator begins by addressing the danger o f lust through the storyteller's voice: "T h e eye is a go-between for passion, the heart is che seat o f desire. A r the beginning, your heart is in a turm oil; at the end, you have lost your soul,” "W h en you begin to plan and scheme against the code o f society/' he w arns his audience, "you are seeking a m om en ts selfish gratification ac the expense o f the lifelong love and respect o f others/' H e feels no need to define or ju stify the code, which is assum ed by society and readily applied: it is som ething that m ust be taken for granted. H ow ever, rather than im posing his view on his audience, rhe narrator asks: 'H o w w ould you feel i f your own charm ing wife or devoted concubine should becom e the object o f som eone else’s m achinations?1’ T h is question parallels the w ell-know n Confucian form ula "D o not do to others w hat you would not have them do to you." Y e t it U his use o f the sim ulated rhetoric o f conversation that enables the narrator to solicit the expected response from his audience. A lth o u gh he assum es an authoritative voice, the narrator is by no means a rigid ascetic Endow ed w ith the w isdom o f w orldly experience, he shows a sensibility to the delicacy o f hum an affairs and often allows cer­ tain latitude for m isconduct: "Y o u m ay gain pleasure from some chance en­ counter w ith a 'flow er by rhe roadside/ and it m ay be that no harm w ill come o f it.” Later in the story the narrator manages through the com bination o f subtle narrative devices to w in our sym pathy for the fem ale character, W a n g Sanqiao, w h o slips into adulcery wich a traveling m erchant. A t a certain point, he addresses "m em bers o f the audience” and explains that although W a n g Sanqiao has been divorced by her husband, she still loves him, and 36. Feng Menglong, Gujin xiaoshuo, vol. 10, pp. 3-96; trans. from Birch, Stories jrom a Ming Collection, pp. 37-96.

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the husband, w ho has no alternative but to divorce her because o f the affair, feels sim ilarly tow ard her. O scillating between his public and private voices and different perspectives, the narrator defines for h im self a m iddle ground on which to negotiate between the dem ands o f public m orality and individ­ ual sensibilities .37 H ow ever, as often happens in M in g and Q in g fiction, w hat begins as a ne­ gotiation m ay end u p becom ing a dispute, w hen tw o or m ore voices o r p er­ spectives are locked in conflict w ith little prospect for reconciliation. D u rin g the late M in g period, the m aturation o f sim ulated rhetoric in vernacular fic­ tion seems to coincide w ith the w ide use o f irony ,16T h e coexistence o f che sto­ rytellers authoritative voice and narrative irony w ithin a single w o rk generates a great tension that vexes interpreters. In som e cases the narratorial voice be­ com es decentralized; in oth er cases it is com prom ised, i f nor undercut. B u t equally im portant is that firom the late M in g on, the narratorial voice itself underwent m odulations. O ne extrem e exam ple is the narrator o f Jin Ping Mei

cihua, w ho constantly straddles che roles o f a rigid, didactic m oralist and a w ily opportunist and voyeur .39T h is contradiction contributes to the differing in­ terpretations o f the novel: those w ho heed the m oralist read a C onfucian novel; those aroused by the voyeur, a w ork o f pornography. D escribin g the historical transform ation o f the narrative paradigm o f the Chinese novel, D avid R o lston rem arks:

37. In "Storytelling Context in Chinese Fiction: A Preliminary Examination o f It as a Mode of Narrative Discourse," David Wang uses the term "middle distance" to describe the way an individual writer modulates the relations between his private sensibilities and public sentiment. 3S. Andrew Plaks argues that one of the salient features of the si da qishu (four masterworks) o f Chinese novels (Tfce Romance of the Three Kingdoms, The Journey to the W«t, Water Margin, and The Plum in the Golden Vast) is their use of ironic devices. He regards the Si da qtshu as forming a literary genre buflr upon ironic revision of narrative material from the popular tradition (see The Four Masterworks of the Ming Novel). I am not totally convinceci by Plaks's argument about literati editors' role in generating the ironies to be found in these nov­ els; I think that some o f the ironies Plaks identifies might not be embedded within the text itself but caused by the historical and ethical distances between the authors or editors time and ours. A potential danger for modern critics is that we are inclined to see contradictions in places where they do not exist; or else they exist but fail to constitute irony in the sense o f the term as we now understand it. But in general I agree that irony becomes a prevalent characteristic of vernacular narrative in the Ming dynasty, and even more so during the eighteenth century. 39. For further discussion of this issue, see my essay "Jin Ping Met cihua and Late Ming Print Culture."

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After reaching maturity in the late Ming, the simulated context of the oral story­ teller developed along two lines. One was for marks of the presence of the narrator 2s storyteller to drop away to a minimum, as in the R«li» waishi. The other was to bring the storyteller persona even more into the foreground, dramatizing the story­ telling process, as in the opening chapter of Huayuc hen or the bulk of Ernti yingxiong zhuan, or personalizing the narrator and treating the simulated context of the oral storyteller ironically, as occurs in the fiction of Li Yu (including the R om putuan) and parts of the Hon^iou mew^.40 T h is second line along which the oral storyteller evolves can, according to P atrick H an an , be traced to L in g M engchu (1580 -16 斗4). A s the editor o f

Slapping the Table in Amazement (PaCan jingqf), L in g follow ed Feng M englong’s m odel but was m ore innovative in show ing h im self as wan individual narrator, as distinct from the generalized narrator o f m ost previous fiction .w41 L i Y u certainly w ent further, than anyone before him in personaliz­ ing the narrator and playing w ith the sim ulated rhetoric o f storytelling .42 H e equated the narrator w ith the author by giving the form er a distinct autho­ rial persona found elsewhere in his own writings. A n d m ore often than not, he made the com m entary on his ow n fiction an extension or a com plem en­ tary form o f his narratorial discourse. In one place, his com m entator asserts, very much in the w ay L i Y u 's narrator does in bragging about the values o f his own w ork:

anyone tries to tell m e there has even.been a better novel

than The Carnal Prayer M at (Rou putuan), I shall spit in his face !M43 B u t L i Y u ’s ironic stance and playful tone often prevent us from taking seriously whatever statem ents his narrator and com m entator m ake. A t the beginning o f " A T o w e r for the Su m m er H e a tw (MX ia yi lou"), the narrator reinforces his authorial persona by citing a hum orous rem ark "that people at the time told me w as w orth preserving *’:44 "Frivolous and lew d behavior m ust have som ething serious and proper about it if it is to be perpetuated/' H e then

40* Rolston, Traditional Chinese Fiction and Fiction Commentary, p. 232+ 41* Hanan, The Chinese Vernacular Story, p, 150* 42- See chaps. 8 and 9 of ibid., pp* 165-207; and Hanan, Tfje Invention of Li Yu. Hanan Argues that Li Y us comic force arises from his farcical play with the canonical voice of the conv^ntional narrator as well as his parody of some cherished myth or stereotype, whereas Aina's fiction marks a decisive break with the basic model and method of vernacular fiction itself* 43* Li Yu, putuan, in Chen Qinghao and Wang Qiugui, cds^ Si wu xie huibao, vol* 1% P. 3SO;trans* from Hanan, The Carnal Prayer Maif "Introduction广p* xiii, 斗4* See Li Yu, SfciVr fow, pp. 39-55; tra n s, from Hanan, A Tower/o r the Summer Heat, PP‘ 5- 6 *

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applies it to sexual activity: MI f sexual intercourse w as not considered serious and proper in the very beginning ;w h y has it been handed dow n from an­ cient tim es as a perm anent part o f life? Because o a t o f the frivolity and lew d­ ness o f sex com e sons to perpetuate the ancestral shrine and continue o a r lineage/' T h e narrator seem s to take pains to endorse the Confucian ethics o f ancestral w orship and filial piety, which are often found in the voice o f the sim ulated storyteller in vernacular fiction, but he does so in a tricky w ay that only makes us suspect his declared intention. Interestingly, unlike the con­ ventional narrator, he goes on to apologize for w hat m ight be perceived by the audience as a digression: "T h is is the point to w hich m y talk o f lotus blossom s has brought me* I hope the reader w ill forgive me for ram bling on s o : H e constantly com prom ises the conventions o f fiction w riting and re­ m inds the reader to m aintain an ironic distance from his own com m ents, and he seems to have done all he could to undercut the collective discourse the storyteller often represents ,45 T h e re are far few er exam ples o f the other line o f evolution o f the sim u­ lated context o f storytelling, that is, the tendency tow ard dim inishing, i f not abolishing altogether, the m ode o f oral literature, Rulin waishi is unprece­ dented in representing this trend, although a few earlier w orks seem to an­ ticipate it in som e m inor respects .46 T h e dim inishing o f the n arrators privi­ leged view point has had a significant im pact on readers' perception o f the narrative w orld o f Rulin waishi and o f its relation to us. In reading the epi­ sode o f Longsan, for instance, we are no m ore than casual onlookers, w ith no extra vision or know ledge w ith respect ro the characters and incidents re­ counted* W e kn ow nothing more about the prior and Longsan than w hat is

45. As David Rolston notes (Traditional Chinese Fiction and Fiction Commentary, p, 293). Li Yu often deliberately destroyed the illusion of face-to-face verbal communication with his assumed audience asking the reader to _’rest his eyes* before turning co the next chapter* See, e.g” Li Yu, "Hcgui lou* (S(?i*er tou, pp. 126-46; Hanan, Tower, p, 183); and "Fuyun lou' {Shier lou, pp. 90-116; Hanan, Tower, p. 154). In HXia yi lou" Li Yu demonstrated his metafictional consciousness by commenting on the novelists deliberate narrative choke: at a critical mo­ ment of the story, the slightest delay would be disastrous for the characters, but "the author insists on a delay at this point, so thac he can start a new chapter/’ because "the story will be far more interesting than if it were told all in one piece" (SfciVr lou, p, 49; Hanan, Tower, p. 26)* 46* For instance, Water Margin and A to Water Margin (SJmfhw houzhuan) occasion­ ally adopt what David Rolston (Traditional Cfem«e ficfion and Fiction Commentary, pp* 259-40) calls the "new descriptive mode” in representing natural settings. See also Widmcr, The Mar­ gins of Utopia, p* 158* Xiyou bu, another xushu of the time^ significantly reduces rhe language of the conventional storyteller.

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present in their conversations, w hich unfold w ithour being fram ed or even m ediated by the n arrarors introduction or commencs. A t the m ost puzzling m om ent o f the conversation, the characters seem to exchange inform ation that rem ains inaccessible to us. W h a t rem ains unknow n m ight be (disre­ garded as som ething unim portant or irrelevant. Y e t its presence in the novel cannot be sim ply ignored: it m arks the lim its o f ou r interpretations o f the Longsan narrative and the novel in general. M oreover, these im posed lim its rem ind us o f the all-too-fam iliar conditions o f ou r everyday experience. R ath er than presenting the w orld from che view point o f an omniscient: narracor as m ost earlier novels do, the narrative o f L on gsan confronts us w ith the am biguities we encounter in real life. C o n trary to ou r expectations o f the orderly consolations o f narrative order and transparency, w e are left alone to deal w ith the narrative w orld o f the novel, w ith no sense o f certainty. In the account o f rhe Longsan incident, the disappearance o f the om nipo­ tent view point parallels rhe absence o f che com m on discourse in che voice o f che narrator. T h a t is, the com m on discourse no longer constitutes the narra­ torial discourse that fram es and thereby measures the characters' discourse. H ow ever, it does noc sim ply vanish; the characters som etim es m outh it, al­ beit in fragm ented and distorted w ays. T h e dislocation and relocation o f the com m on discourse deprive it o f the authority conventionally associated with it; we observe the enactm ent o f com m on discourse in a series o f conversa­ tions that bears no resemblance to the standard sim ulated context o f verbal com m unication in the m ode o f storytelling. L e t us re-exam ine che chaos that Longsan provokes. Presenting him self as the wife o f the prior, Longsan uses language that prescribes the fem ales role in fam ily life. T h is language, as show n above, derived from popular Confucian texts, including conduct books for wom en. In the Longsan epi­ sode, ir is com bined wich proverbs often used by the traditional narrator in stories about fam ily affairs, such as " A quarrel between husband and wife does not last overnight/* In response to the p rio rs threat o f possible official intervention, Longsan again quotes com m on sayings in the w ay a conven­ tional narrator would: “It is well p u t in these w ords o f the ancients: 'O fficials can't interfere in fam ily d ispu tes/" Y e t unlike the traditional narrator, L o n g­ san tears these phrases from the texts to w hich they belong to suit his own agenda. A t one m om ent, the frustrated prior is quoted as saying: "Longsan! T h is is no. tim e for jo kin g! Even i f you w ere angry w ith m e for not inviting you today, you should have com e in a decent m anner. W h y dress up vlike

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this?” T h e verbal exchange between the rwo takes place ar different levels: Longsan disguises h im self w ith legitimate rhetoric; the prior gives his private reading o f it to discredit Longsan. T h e p rio rs reading m ay reveal Longsan’s m otivation, but it m ay also be a deliberate m isreading intended to prevent Longsan from further disclosing their secret relationship* L o n g san s appropriation o f the com m on discourse has serious im plica­ tions, for che m eaning o f his words is now predicated on the specific utter­ ance, an event chat is particular and contingent. In ocher words, the legiti­ m ate com m on discourse signifies only through the context w ithin which it is articulated and exchanged. It can no longer be appropriately used, as in a prescribed ideal situation like che standard simulaced context o f storytelling; it is insread always appropriated or m isappropriated, w ith connotations shaped by the speaker's objectives and circum stantial m otivations. It is d iffi­ cult to restore credibility to the m isappropriated words, and W u Jingzi's narrator can hardly use che language m onopolised and abused by his charac­ ters w ith out evoking doub t or a sense o f irony. In its account o f the Longsan episode, therefore, Rulirt waishi undercuts the com m on discourse w ithout creating an alternative for it. Indeed, the Longsan farce alienates us from the fam iliar voice that is cul­ tivated in a variety o f popular C onfucian texts as w ell as in traditional fiction. It prevents us from recognizing, to say nothing o f identifying with, the au­ thority conventionally associated w ith the legitimate com m on discourse. T h is change, w hich is m anifested m ost evidently in P art II o f Rwlirt waishi, is related to ocher m oves W u Jin gzi made. H e was reluctant to assum e the ac­ cepted public persona o f storyteller in organizing his narrative and even less interested, it w ould seem, in m aintaining the coded gestures and rhetoric o f speaking to the im agined com m unity o f a broad audience. Since he forsook the privileged voice o f the storyteller in m ost parts o f his novel, his narrative relied m ore on literary and historical allusions and references— knowledge and rhetoric beyond the assum ed audience for conventional fiction but befit­ ting his subject m atter. Clearly, the changes in fiction discussed in this chapter m ust be under­ stood w ithin rhe context o f the developm ent o f the literati novel in the eighteenth century. A s explained in the Introduction, eighteenth-century literati novels, as exem plified by Rulin waishi, were written by individual lite­ rati authors for an audience o f their confreres, and they all deal, one w ay or another, w ith literati concerns, although they do not always contain auto-

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biographical elements. Their emergence signals a fundamental shift in the way che vernacular novel was created, transmitted, and received; it also sug­ gests that novelists had acquired a different manner o f communicating with their readers. Small surprise thar most o f these novels, such as The Humble

Words oj an Old

and Tracks of an Immortal on the Green Field, deliberately

downplay the gestures o f storytelling. T h e exuberant wit and erudition o f

Flowers in the M irror leave almost no room for the repertoire o f conventional fiction. The History of the Bookworm goes even further by adopting classical language; it not only dispenses alcogecher with the rhetoric o f oral literature but incorporates a tremendous amount of literati learning and references not found in che vernacular novel. Cao Xueqin, a former resident o f Nanjing and che author o f the Story oj

the Stone, began, soon after W u Jingzi, to disparage the same narrative para­ digm, albeit in his own way. Critics have long been struck by his sophisti­ cated design o f multiple beginnings, the ease with which he moves from the myth co history and the human domain within the limited space o f the first few chapters, and his innovative use o f the rhetoric o f storytelling. After complaining about the complexity o f the objects he is dealing with in Chap­ ter 6, the narrator turns to his audience and asks, "Faced with so exuberant an abundance o f material, what principle should your chronicler adopt to guide him in Kis selection o f incidents co record?"47 A s he ponders the prob­ lem "where to begin/' the narrator tells us that the problem has suddenly been solved by the appearance o f Grannie Liu, who 'turned up at the Rong mansion on the very daj^ o f which we are about to write/* This is a typical' example o f how Cao Xueqin made use o f the familiar rhetoric o f oral litera­ ture for a new purpose; unlike the conventional storyteller, the narrator draws our attention to the very act o f writing, laying bare the devices o f nar­ rative choice, deliberation, and manipulation. In Chapter 1, Cao reveals the mysterious origin o f the novel— a piece o f text inscribed on a divine stone. H e summons the stone to defend the text and then lists the names o f those who are said to have copied and edited it, including Cao himself. H is sophis­ ticated rendering o f the identities o f rhe author, scribe, and editor raises narratological issues too complicated for received conventions o f fiction. M ore­ over, whereas W u Jingzi reduced the role o f the omniscient storyteller to the minimum in Rwliw waishi, Cao Xueqin created multiple internal narrators

47- Cao 150.

Xueqin, Hon^ou meng, p. 68; trans. from Hawkes, The Story of the Stone, vol, 1; p.

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such as Jia Yucun (a pun on "felse words preserved") and Z h c n SKiyin ("true events concealed"), each o f whom reveals only the partial or relative truth o f the stories recounted. Th is generates a constant dialogue and negotiation be­ tween the real and unreal, and between truth and fiction. In ^the mid­ eighteenth century, W u and Cao explored different strategies for dealing with the inherited paradigm o f vernacular narrative, and their works inaugu­ rated a new phase in the development o f the Chinese novel by revolutionizng how the world is perceived and represented

C

H

A

P

T

E

R

7

P a r o d y a n d the Suspension o f H istory

I f in Rulin waishi we encounter what we might call a new narrarive form, its significance lies precisely in its presupposition o f the inherited narrative mode it refuses. T h e novels occasional references to earlier texts shows only the inadequacy o f rheir value structure: the reassurance o f the conventional narrator is suspended, the characters o f previous works are parodied, and canonical plots are placed in changed contexts and subjected to reversal. Rulin waishi seems to deliberately disappoint our expectations o f vernacular fiction. It demonstrates the incapacity o f the old narrative mode to make sense o f or construct values from the elements o f its own world. A n example o f chis problem occurs early in the novel (Chapters 9, 11, and 12), in the epi­ sode in which the Lou brothers, Lou Feng and Lou Z a n , two members o f rhe local elite and hopeless romantics, seek out men o f virtue, only to open themselves to ridicule.

OU Texts, N ew Worlds: A Misguided Trip T h e Lou brothers are among the characters o f Rulin waishi out o f tune with their own time. Dissatisfied with their prescribed roles in society, they choose instead to live in a textual world inhabited by men o f virtue, highminded recluses, and knights-errant. T o them, the present will remain meaningless until rhe^ can discover in it the trutli o f what the texts o f rhe past describe. Their attempt to validate this textual world leads them to

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and

c u l t u r a l

t r a n s fo r m a t io n

search for men o f virtue; from books they have learned that real sages always detach themselves from the public and wait quietly for those>with the wis­ dom to recognize and discover them. W ith these books as their guide, the Lou brothers' search for worthies becomes itself a test o f the world that they have constructed from the texts o f the past. One o f the major texts thau the brothers consult is Sim a Q ians Sbiji, the first general history (tongsbi), which covers early history through the early Western Han period. One can hardly overestimate the importance o f Shiji in Chinese historiography, literature, and culture in general: it not only estab­ lished a model for the official and literati historical narrative in subsequent periods but also constituted che major sources for the popular imagination and conceptualization o f history. It is no surprise that the Lou brothers epi­ sode takes as its starting point their references to the motifs and rhetoric de­ rived from Shiji , In Chapter 9, the Lou brothers see their chance for action when they dis­ cover a man o f virtue in Yang Zhizhong, a poor licentiate imprisoned for be­ ing unable to repay a debt to a salt merchant. T h e y first hear about Yang Zhizhong from a custodian o f their family graves; his recounting o f Yang's words catches cheir interest, for Yang, like themselves, speaks respectfully o f antiquity and condemns che present dynasty, which, according to him, has been morally ;bankrupt since the Yongle usurpation o f 1403, T h ey immedi­ ately take steps to help Yang Zhizhong get released from jail. Then they stay at home, waiting for him to call on them to express his gratitude. However, "W hen over a month had passed, the Lou brothers could not help feeling somewhat bewildered- Nevertheless, they called to mind the story o f Yue Shifu and were convinced that Licentiate Yang must be a great scholar o f the same type. In fact, this only increased their respect for him” (_R. 133; S. 103). In this moment o f doubt, the brothers take comfort in ancient texcs. Their reading of the story of Yue Shifu from Shiji leads them to view Yang Zhizhong as his modern-day counterpart and to grow even more convinced o f Yang’s virtue.1

1. See Sima Qian, Shiji, juan 62, p. 2135. The story of Yue Shifii can also be found in the "neipian” of the Master Yan's Spring and Autumn Amah (Yanzi chunqiu), which was originally attributed to Yan Ying (?~50o bce) but was probably edited by Han scholars (see Wang Xinzhan, Yanzi chunqiu jijie, pp. 63-64). There are some differences between the two versions of the story 111 the Sfciji and 111 the Yanzi chunqiu. The novel probably is based on the version in the Shiji.

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Yue Shifu, a man of virtue, was held in slavery* When Yan Ying encountered Yue on the road, he gave the horse on the left side of his carriage to redeem him and then carried him home. After they arrived, Yan Ying entered Yues room without saying “Excuse me." After a while, Yue Shifu wished to break off relations with him* Yan Ying was astonished* He straightened his cap and clothes and apologized, saying, uAlthough I am noc perfect, I have saved you from a miserable situation. W hy do you wanr co break off 50 soon?" Shifu said, "That is not the point. I have heard it said thac a gentleman is treated unjustly by those who do not know him, but treated justly by those who know him-

5

When I was a captive, you did not even know who I wa . But you redeemed me with compassion, and that made you my friend. But if a friend treats me without re­ spect, I prefer to stay in jail*Thereupon, Yan Ying invited him into the inner room as an honored guest* T h e Lou brothers are skilled enough readers to have caught the message o f the Yue Shifu stoiy: in helping a man o f virtue, one should not consider one­ self a benefactor or expect him to express gratitude* A man o f virtue needs friends but not benefactors, and he demands to be treated as an equal, con­ sistently and with due respect, Larer, the brothers immerse themselves in

Shiji rhetoric in their dialogue with each other: “Have you not heard the say­ ing that when Your Grace does good, Your Grace should forget广 (R, 134; S. 105),2 Th e function o f the rhetorical question is to reaffirm the understand­ ing between rhe brothers through their common reference to the Shiji texts. W ith the Shiji story and rhetoric as their guide, rhej^ know what to say and do next: they decide to pay Yang a visit. T h e account o f the trip is in the mode o f the story o f Liu Bei’s visits to ZHuge Liang, which is first elaborated in The History of the Three Kingdoms

(Sanguozhi), an official history composed in the Jin dynasty, and later embel­ lished in The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, a M ing dynasty historical r o -

mance, which was subsequently adapted into plays and stories and became deeply rooted in the popular imagination o f Chinese history*3 In The Ro­

mance oj the Three Kingdoms, Zhuge Liang, a seer and a scholar o f extraordi­ nary wisdom and insight, lives as a recluse in Longzhong* Liu Bei, who represents the legitimate lineage o f the Han royal house, makes three visits

1, See *Wci gongzi liezhuan" in Sima Qian, Shijitjuan ?7f p. 2381* 3. Critics have noted that the Lou brothers story is derived from the Liu Bei episode in Sanguo yanyi In a study of chis story, Roland Altcnburgcr (“Cong huwenxing kan li«/m waishi de fcngci shoufa"1) focuses on the issue o f intertextuality. See also Chen Wenxin^ Wu Jingzi hua rulin, p* 51-55,

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to Z h u ges thatched hut to solicit advice on political and military strategies. T h e first rwo visits achieve nothing, but during the third Liu Bei is granted a chance to meet Zhuge Liang, Th is long-expected meeting more than repays all o f Liu Bei s efforts, for he has finally found the man who is to play an es­ sential role in his future career as emperor o f the Shu-H an kingdom. In Chapter 9 o f Rulin waishi, the Lou brothers visit Yang Zhizhong's thatched hut three times and, as in the story o f Liu Bei, are not able to meet the scholar until the third visit. Again, as in the story o f Liu Bei, the first two calls, although fruitless, yield clues to the recluses character that raise his visitors’ expectations. On their way back home, the Lou brothers hear some favorable words spoken about Y an g and discover a poem on a sheet o f paper signed with the name Yang Zhizhong, But

waishi adds an ironic twist

to the structural model that it shares with The Romance o f the Three Kingdoms: the poem may reveal more about Yang Zhizhong than its surface meaning. The Lou brothers unfolded the white sheet of paper and read the following lines: “I dare not try anything inappropriate, / Because I have studied some books.

/ 1 have

come through bitter frost and blazing heat, / And in no time the spring breeze will visit my thatched hut/’ Yang's name was signed beneath. The Lou brothers were most impressed. “How remarkable!** they exclaimed. "What an admirable character! But How unlucky we are in all our attempts to meet him!" (R. 138; S. 109) T h e brothers greatly admire Yang's moral integrity, to which the poem bears witness. W e might well agree with them if we did not know that the poem is abridged from one by a poet o f the Yuan dynasty,4 A s is confirmed in the next scene, Yang Zhizhong has a habit o f quoting others' lines. But the nar­ rator does not reveal the sources o f these quotations. D id he suppose that his ideal reader would be able to identify the true author o f the poem? I f so, did he mean to suggest that Yang is trying to gain fame by deceiving the public, or that the Lou brothers are not learned enough to tell a real scholar from a fake one, or both? W e may pose these questions, but _Rh^i waishi provides no definitive answer. A ll we see is, in the following chapter, the Lou brothers showing this poem to Mr, Lu, a compiler at the Hanlin Academy, as evidence o f Yang Zhizhong's high-mindedness. They take Yang for the author o f the poem and read it as his personal statement.

4* This poem was written by Lii Sicheng, a prime minister of the Yuan dynasty, when he was a poor and frustrated scholar; see Tao Zhongyis Nancun(buogcngtu,juan 12, in Li Hanqiu, ed., waishi" yanjiu ziliao, p. 174.

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209

T h e Lou brothers' quest for Y an g Zhizhong is indeed a series o f mis­ readings on cheir part and miscommunications between them and Yang Zhizhong. T h e very idea o f che trip comes from a misreading— the Lou brothers misinterpret Yang Zhizhongs failure to respond after being re­ leased from jail. W e are told at the vejy beginning that Yang Zhizhong knows nothing o f what the Lou brothers have done for him and does not bother to investigate. T h e brothers’ comparison o f Yang to Yue Shifu is, therefore, the result o f wishful* thinking. Cherishing such inflated expecta­ tions o f Yang Zhizhong, the Lou brothers call on him at, his thatched hut* Unlike Liu Bei, who during his first two visits encountered several recluses with elegant bearing and enigmatic speech, however, they meet no one except a. half-deaf and half-witted housekeeper, a crone who drops no pearls o f disguised wisdom. Here again is miscommunication: upon Yang Zh izhongs return, the old woman cells him thar two men called Liu or something have come to see him; the evocation o f Liu Bei’s last name once again suggests the textual sources o f the Lou brothers story. But Yang is not Zhuge Liang, and that name reminds him only o f the yamen runner who arrested him when the salt merchant brought suit— a nightmare from which he wishes only to escape. Upon learning that the old Housekeeper has invited the visitors to return, Yang Zhizhong reacts with anger and fear; he slaps her face and kicks her. Fearing chat the runner will be back, he takes to going out early every morning and wandering about till evening. Thus, when the brothers pay a second visit a few days later, they miss him again. W e have so far seen two different versions o f the story. One, presented primarily from the perspective o f the Lou brothers, derives from the model o f Liu Bei’s visit to Zhuge Liang; the other discredits that model. The Ho-

manct of the Three Kingdoms provides the image o f rhe sage waiting for recog­ nition, and the Lou brothers in Rwlin waishi are driven to see that imagie real­ ized in the present* But they are doomed to fail, since they inhabit a novel that does not believe the sages in the way they do. A nd they go astray in their trip from The Romance of the Three Kingdoms to Ru/m waishi. Adhering to an out-of-date textual guide, they never learn How to decipher the codes of the narrative world in which they figure: they cake things and people for what they are not. In Chapter 10 the brothers have a chance to share their story with M r. Lu, a compiler at the Hanlin Academy, Contrary ro their expectations, every

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sign in Yang that they have interpreted positively turns out to be negative in the eyes o f M r. Lu. Presently Mr. Lu asked about the crops that year and whether their native place had recently produced any famous men. Given this opening, Lou Feng mentioned Yang Zhizhong and declared that he could be considered an extremely lofty character. Then, producing the poem, he showed it to the compiler. When Mr, Lu had read it, he looked at them quizzically. "You two gentlemen are a match for all the patrons who ever existed," he said. "Even the Lord of Xinling and the Lord of Chunshen could do no more. But few of these men who appear so brilliant are genuine scholars. In fact, to put it bluntly, if this fellow is really learned, why hasnt he passed the ex­ amination? What use is this poem? With your condescension and respect for genius, you must be the best patrons this Mr. Yang has ever encountered in his life; yet he has twice avoided you, as if he were afraid of meeting you. Isn't the reason obvious? If I were you, I would not become too friendly with such people." To this the two brothers made no answer, (R. 142; S. 112) A t the level o f the characters* discourse, the brothers’ account o f Yang Zhizhong has been challenged. Although Mr, L u s comments are by no means conclusive, they provide an alternative point o f view that questions the reliability o f the brothers' judgment. M r. L u s assessment is, o f course, highly subjective: his tone, his language, and rhe values he applies suggest his personality and social status. In judging Yang’s scholarship, he adopts the of­ ficially approved standard; to his mind, a true scholar would have passed the civil service examination, as he himself has done. In this fashion he reminds the Lou brothers o f his own status; his question also implies contempt for the brothers, both o f whom, as related in Chapter 8, have long struggled with the metropolitan examination but never succeeded. Despite his bias and circumstantial motivarion, Mr. Lu's general criticism o f contemporary scholars throws suspicion on Yang Zhizhong by implying that he might be one o f those who tty to win undeserved fame. H is habit o f quoting others’ poetry without acknowledgment and His shabby treatment o f his maid seems to sustain L u s opinion, but not for the reasons that Lu gives. Here again, at the level o f the characters' conversation, we encounter the model o f Liu Bei visiting Zhuge Liang, T h e second half o f the comments made by M r. Lu seem to echo the comments about Zhuge Liang made by Guan Yu, a sworn brother o f Liu Bei in The Romance o f the Three Kingdoms. After the rwo fruitless visits, Guan Y u tries to persuade Liu Bei to give up: "Twice, brother, you have respectfully presented yourself. Such courtesy is

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211

indulgence. It seems to me thac Kongming [Zhuge Liang] has a false reputa­ tion and no real learning. T h at is why he avoids receiving you. W h y are you so captivated by this man?"5 Similar as they are, Guan Y u s and M r, L u s comments assume different roles in shaping the characters commented upon: in The Romance o f the Three Kingdom s, Guan Y u s criticism o f Zhuge Liang is discredited when Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang finally meet and thus concributes, in a negative way, to forming the stable image o f Zhuge Liang as a true sage; in Rulin waishi, L u s criticism o f Y ang Zhizhong provides an alternative in­ terpretation that jeopardizes the Lou brothers' story but remains uncon­ firmed, T h e brothers do not respond to Mr. L u s comments. Despite his chal­ lenge, they silently insist on their own version o f the story. But when they meet the man who firsr recommended Yang to them, they find their version o f the story vulnerable not merely to Lu's criticism o f Y an g but to their own defense o f him. T h e Lou brothers described their tw o attempts to call on Y an g Zhizhong. "O f course, he couldn’t know this," said Z o u Jifu.

*1 have

been living in East V illage for

the last few months, so there was no one to tell Mr. Yang. But he is as honest a fel­ low as you could find: he would never put on airs and deliberately avoid anyone- H e is one o f rhe m ost friendly people I know, and i f he realized that it was you two gen­ tlemen who had called on him, he w ould travel all night to see you." (R. 159; S. 126)

T h e story o f Y an g Zhizhong, even as a positive figure, is recast. In this ver­ sion he is a man o f virtue, but not o f the type the Lou brothers expected. In their eyes, he must be an extraordinary man like Yue Shifu, but Yue Shifu would never "travel all night/' to use Z o u jifiis words, to pay a visit. T h e distance between the Lou brothers and Yang Zhizhong symbolizes the gap between text and reality. Th e brothers not only read themselves into the texts o f the past but also try to read those texts into their own lives. W hen they set out to discover a present-day Yue Shifu, they test the narra­ tives o f which they are a part. Y ang Zhizhong, however, is bound to a differ­ ent world and resists assimilation into the books that they have read. Th e brothers wander out o f T h e Romance o f the Three Kingdom s with faith in the intelligible structure o f the values embodied in conventional narrative. But in Ruliti waishi they* confront multiple voices that parricipare in a controversy

with no resolution. In the characters' discourse, Yang is either condemned as

5. Luo Guanzliong, Sanguo yanyi, p. 485; trans. from Roberts, Three Kittgdomi, p. 290.

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a swindler or praised as a supremely honest and friendly fellow. H e is later described by a nameless townsman in Chapter 12 as M a complete lunatic, gabbling all the time about astronomy, geography and the arts o f governmentM(R. 172; S. 136). There is no longer a unified internal audience repre­ senting a standard o f public opinion. One person’s object o f ridicule may be another's sage, and vice versa. More important, none o f these versions o f the story can claim to be authoritative: there is no longer "the” story guaranteed by the conventional narrator. Since this dichotomy o f text and reality is itself fashioned in the form of a text, it contributes to defining the novel as a new textual world in opposi­ tion to the old one. Th e brothers are caught between these worlds as well as between the canonical texts in which they believe and the novelistic real­ ity in which they figure: they conceptualize people in rhe light o f the ca­ nonical texts without knowing chat they themselves have been -placed in a new text shaped by a different mode o f perception and interpretation. However, not merely their mode o f perception but also the status o f old texts that promise co be continuously fulfilled in new ones are threat­ ened— another contrast between The Romance of the Three Kfrt炉iomi and

Rulin waishi. Like the Lou brothers, Liu Bei in The Romartce of the Three Kingdoms takes the ancient texts as a guide for his own actions. In Chapter 38, Liu Bei refutes Guan Y u and Zh ang Fei, who have tried to stop him, saying, "Long ago Prince Huan o f the state o f Q i tried five times before he suc­ ceeded in seeing the recluse o f Dongguo. Getting to see the wise and wor­ thy Kongming may well demand even more o f us:’ H e continues, "I sup­ pose youve never heard o f King W en, founder o f the Zhou, presenting himself to Jiang Ziya. I f King W en could show a wise man such respecr, what excuses your utter discourtesy?"5 T o Liu Bei, the narrative o f ancient texts, such as Shiji, assumes a double role: it indicates both what things were long ago and what things should be. Following the guidance o f the text whose authority has been affirmed, Liu Bei finally, as expected, finds

6- Roberts's translation is accurate except for one thing; the recluse of Dongguo does not refer to Guanzhong, the prime minister of the state o f Qi. The anecdote of Piince Huan making five visits to the recluse o f Dongguo is found in Chapter 36 “Nan (I)** of the Hanfeizt, in which the recluse is called Xiaochen Ji; see Hanfeizijiaozhu, p. 507. For King Wen's visit to Jiang Ziya, an honorable worthy, see "Hereditary house of Qi Taigong" (Qi Taigong shijia) in Sima Qian, Shijijuan 32, pp. 1477-78.

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Zh u ge Liang, who proves to be a true sage. T h e re-enactment o f the an­ cient texts in T he Romance o f the Three Kingdom s is not a. repetition bur an active cransformation that ensures the consensus o f rhe normative order and reality through the acts of narration and interpretation. In Rulin waishi, however, the very sequence o f transformation comes to an end. T h e broth­ ers engage in the same effort as Liu Bei, but they never succeed; instead, they become objects o f ridicule.

Who Is Quan Wuyong? T h e story o f the Lou brothers' search for worthy men does nor end with Y an g Zhizhong. W h en the brothers finally meet Yang, he takes over the guiding role in the narrative. Assuming the voice o f the conventional narra­ tor, he recommends ro che Lou brothers an extraordinary man "unrivaled among our contemporaries/' "I was just saying/’ resumed Yang Zhizhong, "that since you two gentlemen admire true merit so muchj although I am not worthy of your notice, I have a friend living in the hills in Xiaoshan County who is a remarkable genius and a wonderful scholar. One might truly say of him: in retirement he would be a great scholar; and in office he could be the counselor of the kings. Would you like to meet himiT Marveling, rhe two brothers asked:"Who is this remarkable man?" Then, crossing his fingers, Yang told them his friends name. . . . "A man with my humble capacities is not good enough for gentlemen like you, who admire worth so much,” Yang Zhizhong told che Lou brothers. "But I have a friend called Quan Wuyong from Xiaoshan County who lives in the hills. If you invice Kim here co talk with you, you will see that he has che wisdom of Guan Zhong and Yue Yi, and the learning of Cheng Yi and Zhu Xi, making him unrivaled among our contemporar­ ies." (R. 167-69; S. 132-33) W ith its hackneyed phrases, Yang Zhizhongs speech is reminiscent o f those o f the conventional narrator. In order to revitalize that cliched characteriza­ tion and increase ics persuasiveness, Yang Zhizhong makes himself a foil for Quan W uyong, and self-deprecation is the price paid for the voice he adopts from old-style fiction* I f Yang tries to live up to the role o f che narrator, rhe Lou brothers are a ready-made audience: they immediately catch the tone, which is both familiar and convincing, and thus no sooner do they hear Yang’s recommendation than they send their servant Huancheng to present a letter and gifts to Quan W uyong. However, on the way Huancheng hears a different story:

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"Can it be that fellow?" said tHe bearded man* “Thac would be a joke," Then, turn­ ing to the youth, he asked, “Don't you know about him? Lee me tell you, then. He ifves in the mountains ind all his ancestors were peasants; but his father made enough money to send him to a country school to study. He studied unril he v/23 seventeen or eighteen, when a heartless village teacher did him 1 bad turn by insisting thac he should go in for the examinations* Later on his fatKer died, but this fellow was a good-for-nothing:he could neither till the land nor trade. He just sat at home eating until he had eaten up all his property* He took the cxamina* tions for more chan thirty years but never even passed the lowest, because he can't talk sense. He used to live in a tutelary temple where he took a few pupils, and every yezr he prepared for the examinacions. In that way he wa^ just able to make ends meet. But then he was unlucky again, for the other year he met the accountant of a HuzKou sale &Kop in New Market— an old man called Yang一 who came to collect bills. This Mr, Yang, who pur up in the temple, was a complete lunatic, gabbling all tKe time about astronomy, geography and the arts of government. When Quan heard him, he became possessed by a devil and lost his senses completely— he stopped caking examinations and became a. hermit! But once he became a hermit scudents stopped going co him; so now he has nothing ro livr on exccpr whar he cheats our o f the country people. 'We arc such good friends, there should be no difference between us/ he tells them, 'Wha^s yours is mine, and all that's mine is yours/ This is his formula/1 ■He surely cant deceive many people that way/' said the young man, ^Everything he possesses he has tricked out of people" retorted the man with the beard, "Still, siacc we bdong to the same village, I won’t say any more" Then he asked HuancKeag, "W h y did you inquire about this man?" *For no particular re与 on/’ replied Huanchcng, "I was just asking/1 But he was thinking: “Our third and fourth m2&ttrs are 2 tjuecr couple. So msjiy high officials and magistrates come co pay their respects, yet they still feel they haven't enough friends and send me ail this way, for no reason, to find such a swindler!" (H. 171-72; S,

135- 36)

T h e portrait o f Quan W u yo n g as a worthy man is abruptly reversed* A c ­ cording to the bearded man, Quan is a good-for-nothing, a fellow who could not even make a living without cheating- However, before the informants story is fiilly confirmed, questions about him seem unavoidable: W h o is he? Is his voice reliable? W e know nothing about him other than his remarks, which have j causric and cynicstl cone and suggest more about him than about Quan, W hatever we may say about the bearded man, however, we must agree chat he is a sophisticated storyteller; he stops at 2 point that suggests more stories remain ro be roJd about Quan.

Parody and the S uspension of History

215

W h a t happens next seems to support this account:. After his arrival at the Lou brothers' home, Quan W a yo n g has difficulty dealing with Yang Zh izhon gs son, a hopeless drunkard who also lives there. Having discovered that chis drunkard has taken his money to gamble with, Quan demands an explanation, b u r the response just repeats his own formula: "W h y, uncle, aren't you and I really one? W hat's yours is mine, and all that’s mine is yours. W hac difference is therer A Qing commentator considers this to be a mo­ ment when the bearded mans judgment: o f Quan is confirmed, since the drunkard "uses Quan's money in the same way Quan claims he is doing when he uses others' m oney,7 In consequence, Quan W uyong and Yang Zhizhong fell out and do not even speak to each other anymore* A s an in­ ternal narrator, Yang Zhizhong can no longer control the character he has called forth. T h e episode o f Quan W uyong ends in a scandalous scene: in the middle o f a feast held in the Lou brothers' house, he is captured and taken away bj^ official runners, Th e warrants read as follows: Magistrate Wu of Xiaoshan County reports on a local case of kidnapping. Accord* ing to the abbess Huiyuan of Lanruo Temple, her pupil, the nun Xinyuan, was se­ duced and kidnapped by a local vagabond named Quan Wuyong. This felon, before his crime was discovered, ran away, to your county; Kencc we cransmit this case to you and request your honorable county to deal with the matter and to send runners to assist our officers to find this culprit, who should then be arrested and brought: back to our county for trial. This is urgent! (R, 185;S. 145) Lou Feng is mortified; Lou Z a n is embarrassed. Yang Zhizhong pretends to be an outsider and shifts all the blame onto Quan himself. Quan flushes crimson and desperaccly protests, but the game is up. A s a character in rhe novel he is "dead.” A t this point, we are quite sure that the story o f Quan W uyong is simply a parody o f the story o f ancient recluses— the hero en­ dorsed by rhe voice o f the conventional narrator turns out to be a charlatan who deceives the world co win undeserved credit. O ur confidence remains unchallenged until Chapter 54, by which rime Quan is almost foi^orren, Chen Munan, an unimportant character, and M onk Chen, an even less important character, are chatting about the past:

7. Comment of Zhang Wenbu; see Li Hanqiu, ed., "R«lin waishi' huijiao huiping ben, p. 178,

21 6

NARRATIVE AND CULTURAL TRAN SFO RM A T IO N

"I heard that Mr. Quan Wuyong got into trouble later," said the monk, “What hap­ pened in the end?" "He was slandered by some licentiates in his college. Later he was cleared of the charge." (R, 730; S, 589) This piece o f conversation is a small digression, a piece o f debris failing out o f the portrait o f Quan W uyong, which was complete in Chapter 13. But when we try to fit it back in, chis final touch apparently disrupts the whole picture. It bothers us. W e may even wonder why it is there, since it seems to call into question not merely what we have read, but our way o f reading per se. A s devoted, naive readers, we have been fooled into accepting an unsub­ stantiated report o f Q uans guilt in much the same way that the Lou broth­ ers accepted Yang Zhizhongs account o f Q uans virtue. Again, as in the story o f Yang Zhizhong, the narrator does not show up to confirm or reject what has been said. H e seeps aside, keeps silent, and abandons his privilege o f giving the final word on his character. Readers are left to evaluate the conflicting reports and judgments, with no reliable ground on which to strand. Y et we do know one thing for sure: Quan W uyong does not rise to the status o f an antihero. T h e final stroke o f the story prevents us from regard­ ing it as a parody o f the conventional recluse narrative, a symmetrical inver­ sion o f values that might preserve the value system. Quan may be neither a great recluse nor a swindler or kidnapper. A s a character, he can only be de­ fined by what: he is not; he has fallen into a gray zone o f mundane common­ alities and contingencies and has thus defied the character types established in che repertoire o f conventional fiction.

The Swordsman As Narrator Th e third worthy man that the Lou brothers find is Iron-Arm ed Zhang, a self-proclaimed swordsman, who arrives with Quan W uyong. Iron-Armed Zh an g is not a man waiting for recognition; he is an "active" character, who takes full control o f his self-representation and recommends himself to the brothers. Readers know nothing more than what he says about himself, until at last he leaves and fails co return as promised. Adopting the narrative role o f the righteous swordsman, Zh ang tells us an astounding story about him­ self, straight out o f conventional chivalric fiction. In Chapter 12, during che feast o f welcome for both Quan W uyong and Iron-Arm ed Zhang, Zh ang introduces himself without being asked:

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217

know most of the military arts/ announced Iron-Armed Zhang. “I can fight with eighteen different weapons on foot and eighteen different weapons on horseback. I can use the whip, the mace, the ox, the hammer, the sword, the spear, the saberPand the halberd In fact, I may be said to have mastered all these. But I am unlucky in my tcmpcramenc, for whenever I sec injustice done I must draw my sword to avenge the injured, I cannot resist fighting with the strongest in che empire; and whenever I have money, I give ic to the poor. Thus I have ended up without z home, and chis is how I come to be in your honorable district广 (R. 178;S. 140) Z h a n g s s e lf introduction reproduces all the cliches that a conventional nar­ rator would use in introducing the swordsman.8 It triggers a stock response from Lou Zan : rtTh is is exactly what one expects o f a good fellow!" Once again Lou Z a n proves himself an ideal reader o f conventional fiction, except for one discrepancy: he permits the character, Zhang, to assume the voice o f the narrator in introducing himself Yet, when Zh an g has recourse to the commonplace phrases o f the conventional narrator, he takes control o f how he will be perceived: he is the director o f the drama that he himself acts out. It does not take long for the drama to reach its climax. One night Zhang drops down from the eaves o f the Lou brothers' house and appears in their study, a leather bag in his hands. H e offers an account that seems to confirm his sclf-inrroduccion: "Please be seated, gentlemen广 said Iron-Armed Zhang, *and let me explain. During my life I have had one benefactor and one enemy, I have hated my enemy for ten years without having an opportunity to kill him; but today my chance came and I have his head here* Inside this bag is a bloody human head! But my benefactor is some distance away, and I need five hundred ^el5 to repay him for his kindness. Once this debt of honor is paid, my heart will be ac rest and I can devote the rest of my life to you who have treated me so well* Believing that only you gentlemen could help me— for no others are so understanding— I made bold to call on you tonight. But if you arc unwilling co help, then I must go far away and never see you again*"

(R. 180-81; S* 142-43) Zh an g s explanation is perfectly designed; it fixlfills the expectations for the character type invoked in his self-introduction: always ready to avenge his enemies and repay his friends* Nothing is more important than these rwo themes in the stories o f swordsmen. T h e Lou brothers are astonished but convinced. This time, however, they are not merely readers o f the story; they 8, Zhang's speech derives from such earlier stories as ^Qiurankc zbuan," a Tang dynasty classical tale about a righteous knight-errant*

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are invited to participate in it, and their participation is essential to Zhang’s project o f acting out the role o f the perfect swordsman. Before leaving, Zh an g asks the brothers co prepare a feast to celebrate his triumphant re­ turn and also the climax o f his scoiy, the moment when he will practice the magic art o f reducing the human head in the bag to water. Th e Lou brothers are left alone to finish the rest o f the story Zh an g has initiated. T h ey design a human head party, but Zhang never returns. Th e brothers open the bag themselves, only co find in it not a human head but a pig's! U p to that point, Iron-Armed Zhang has remained in control o f his own story, using the standard swordsman narrative, but with this final stroke, he permits it to dissolve into grotesquerie. H e has used his game as a way o f tricking money out o f the brothers, but he has carried it much farther than such a practical purpose would require. This, I suppose, has to do with the design o f the story: by the trick with the pig's head, the novelist allows Zh an g to poke fun at both the readers o f che novel and Z h a n g s internal au­ dience, the Lou brothers, who have faith in the familiar devices o f the swordsman story. T o make the situation even worse, during the human head party for the “hero” who never shows up, Quan W u^ong is arrested and taken away. "These two incidents left the Lou brothers rather discouraged. T h ey ordered the gatekeeper, if strangers called, to say that they had returned to the capi­ tal. A nd henceforward they remained behind closed doors, devoting them­ selves to household affairs" (R. 186; S. 146). This is how the story o f the brothers* search for the worthies ends: having experienced repeated disillu­ sions and humiliations, they retreat from the outside world that they fail to comprehend, a world chat threatens the stability and reliability o f the narra­ tive they have taken to heart. A careful reading o f the Lou brothers story tells us much about the narra­ tive strategies that Ru/in waishi deploys, especially in Part II. T h e most dis­ tinctive feature o f Rulin waishi is the parody o f the conventional narrator. A s shown above, the narrators voice is often duplicated and subverted ac the level o f che characters' discourse; it is circumscribed, imbued with individual biases and motivations, transposed into inappropriate contexts, and thus devascatingly discredited. Yang Zhizhong recommends Quan W uyong in the voice o f the authoritative narrator, with all the cliches so familiar to the reader o f vernacular fiction, but his recommendation is immediately thrown into question. Iron-Armed Zh an g represents himself in the same manner,

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219

and his self-representation turns out to be a farcical play on the honor o f swordsmen as represented in these stories. T h e Lou brothers, the faithful audience o f Yang Zhizhong and Iron-Armed Zhang, find themselves be­ trayed again and again. N o t only is the voice o f the authoritative narrator disembodied, but the mode through which he perceives the world is also undermined. T h e Lou brothers are betrayed not merely by other characters, who appropriate the narrators voice, but ultimately by their own blind adherence to the narrative mode that the narrator represents, be it fiction or history. T h e y read every part o f the world they encounter as an index o f the world they have read about in books. In their efforts to prove the present truth o f conventional narrative, however, they play a more active role than ordinary readers. They cooperate with Iron-Armed Zh an g in completing his narrative o f the swordsman, In claiming that they recognize a man of virtue in Yang, they themselves assume the role of narrator and tell the story to others in an ap­ parent effort to win their consent. I f they fail to convince others o f Y an gs virtue, so does the authoritative narrator o f fiction and history in whom they believe and after whom they have modeled their own judgments. In this part o f Ruiin waishi, the subject matter and narrative form intersect: rhe characters' moral corruption and abuse of power lie in their audacious appropriation o f the established fictional and historical narrative for their own purposes. T h e normative order, which is sustained by the canonical texts, may not be destabilized, but it cannot be successfully transformed into the narrative world o f Rulin waishi; nor can it serve as the ideal model by which to effectively measure that world. T h e Lou brothers, trying to rein­ force rhat perfect order, are noc portrayed as cu]rural heroes, like Liu Bei in The Romance of the Three Kingdoms; on che contrary, they become dupes sub­ ject ro ridicule. T o a certain extent, the brothers* search for worthies resembles Don Quixotes adventures. W ith chivalric romances as his written guides, Don Quixote sets out to prove what the books say is true. But the texts do little to help him identify the things he encounters on his journey, and he himself ends up verging on delusion and madness. In The Order of Things: A n Archae­ ology o f the Human Sciences, Michel Foucaulc argues: "W ich all their twists and turns, Don Quixote’s adventures form the boundary: they mark the end o f the old interplay between resemblance and signs and contain rhe beginnings o f new relations." Foucault asserts that Don Quixote is the "first modern work

22 0

NARRATIVE AND CULTURAL TRAN SFO RM AT IO N

o f literature" and *a negative o f the Renaissance w o rld , "because in ic we see the cruel reason o f idencicies and differences m ike endless sport o f signs and similitudes; because in it language breaks off its old kinship with things and enters into that lonely sovereignty from which ir wil] reappear, in its separate stare, only ss literature; because ic marks the point where resemblance enters an age which is, from the point o f view o f resemblance, one o f ma 6o). 5. Du Zhao, "Chongxiu Taibomiao beiji," p. 13b. 6. He Zehan, "Rulin waishi" benshi kaolue, pp. 42-60.

The Taibo M yth and the Problem o f N arrative

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ded in W u scholars' account o f their own history. One scholar wrote that before Taibo arrived, the native people of the W u region had lived the lives o f savages, cutting their hair short, tattooing their bodies, and mingling with animals.7 T o his great disappoinrmenr, another W u scholar discovered that among Confucius's seventy-two disciples only one hailed from the W u area. Th e literati o f the region struggled constantly to include their region in the Confucian ethical narrative o f early history, which had originated and devel­ oped in central China. In W u Taibo, regional scholars found everything they needed for their project o f historical revision. T h ey saw in him a double identity: local and more than local. A member of the Z h o u royal family from central China, W u Taibo established the state o f Gouwu and introduced civilization to the region. In so doing, he also acquired his surname, which attested to his local identity. "T h e worthiest man that our Nanjing has ever produced/’ declares C h i Hengshan in RhIjm waishi, "is W u Taibo.” T h e statement is a reincerpretation o f Confucius's praise of W u Taibo; it relates W u ’s sagehood ro the role he played in che creation of the state o f Gouwu. Taibo worship appears in an extended version in Flowers in the M irror, Chapters 11 and 12 take place in the Country o f Gentlemen, a utopia first mentioned in the Classic o j Mountains and Seas (Sfwn bai jing).9 According co the Classic o f Mountains and Seas, rhe Country o f Gentlemen is located some­ where in the east; it becomes well known because its inhabitants are always willing to yield to others and avoid competition. T h e novel embellishes chis account o f the Country o f Gentlemen and presents ir primarily from the perspective o f two travelers, Tan g A o and Duo Jiugong, who are from cen­ tral China, "the Heavenly Kingdom/’ T o them, the inhabitants o f the Coun­ try o f Genclemen are gracious, respectable, and polite_ true gentlemen. Yet they are uncorrupted by the fame they enjoy, for they are so naive that they do not know why their land is called the Country o f Gentlemen or even un­ derstand the meaning o f the title. T h is ideal country is set squarely in con­ trast with the Heavenly Kingdom. In Chapter 11, two civil officials o f the Country o f Gentlemen launch into a sweeping criticism o f the institutions and customs o f the Heavenly Kingdom, including its judicial system, which, according to them, rends to encourage self-interested competition. T h e trav­

7. W u X i, Taibo Meili zh\,juan 4, p. 11a. 8. Cheng Jinger, "Jingling danshi y i , in H e Zehan, *Kulin waishi' benshi kaoliie, p. 60. 9. "H ai wai dong jing/1 in Shatthai jing, juan 9, p ‘ 46a-b.

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THE TAIBO MYTH AND ITS DILEMMA

elers cannot agree more, for in their eyes, che Country o f Gentlemen stands for the moral vision that has been contaminated and. corrupted in their home country. M ore important to our purpose is that Flowers cites W u Taibo as a way o f exemplifying the vision o f this moral community. According to Chapter 12, the inhabitants o f this country are none other than the descendants of W u Taibo. Thus, in the representation o f rhe Country o f Gentlemen, we see all the elements o f which Taibo worship was formed: the symbol o f W u Taibo, the virtue o f noncompetitiveness he embodies, and the civilized land founded by him. But this version o f Taibo worship presents the W u region noc as a land to be integrated into the Confucian narrative o f the civilization o f central China, but as a Confucian utopia against which central China it­ self is measured and found wanting. T h e glorification o f W u Taibo finds sophisticated expression in W u Jingzis Rulin waishi. In Chapter 37, the worship o f W u Taibo as ancestor o f the W u clan and founding father o f Gouwu is reflected in the organization o f ceremonial personnel. A s Chen Meilin points out, since ancient Gouwu consisted o f parts o f modern Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Anhui, the three ritual masters and, two ushers are representatives o f each region. T o achieve this, W u Jingzi even sacrificed rhe consistency and integrity o f his own narrative. For instance, M a Chunshang, a character Who takes no part in the prepara­ tions for the ceremony and demonstrates no particular virtue that would qualify him for a role in it, occupies the position o f third master, simply be­ cause M a is the only available character from Zhejiang.10 Moreover, we can hardly ignore the fact that W u Jingzi and his friend W u Peiyuan, the model for Y u Yude, share a common surname with W u Taibo. In Taibo M eili zhi, W u Peiyuan is said to be a descendant o f W u Taibo, and his attendance at the Taibo ceremony is described as a ritual ob­ ligation toward his remote ancestor.11 W u Jingzi also traced his family back to the founding father o f the W u clan.12 In a poem ro W u Peiyuan, W u Jingzi acknowledged their common ancestry. This sense o f ancestral worship 10. Chen Meilin, Xinpi "Rulin waishi," p. 409, W u Jingzis local sense is also illuminated in Chapter 46: at a farewell party for Y u Yude, the host claims that all the literati attendants are from "the area o f five hundred square li/ which roughly refers to the size o f ancient Gouwu. 11. W u Xi, Taibo Meili zhi, juan 4, p. 10b. 12. Wu Jingzi, *Yi jia fu" (A fu on moving my family away from my hometown), in Gfongyin wenmu shanfan^ji, p. 24- See also Chen Meilin, Wu Jingzi yanjiu, p. 140; and idem, Wu Jin^z't pin^zhuart, p. 291.

T h e Taibo M y th and the Problem o f N a rra tive permeates Rulin waishi. Y u

237

Yude’s surname derives from Y u Zh o n g

(Zhongyong), a younger brother o f W u Taibo, who fled with him to the W u area and,later succeeded him. According to historical records, W u Taibo had no male offspring. T h e origin o f the W u clan was, therefore, traced back to Y u Zh ong.13 It has been argued that W u s representation o f the Taibo ceremony is based on an actual ceremony. In a story that surfaced more than a century after his death, W u Jingzi was even recognized as the main organizer o f the ceremony, an assertion that bolstered the idea that D u Shaoqing repre­ sented none other than W u Jingzi himself, but this claim remains hypo­ thetical unless it can be proved by sources other than the novel itself.14 Th e Temple o f Ancient Worthies, which daces back to the Song dynasty, was left in disrepair during most o f the Qianlong period.15 In a brief preface to a poem written in 1753, one year before his death, W u Jing2i gave an account o f the rituals that, like the Taibo ceremony in Ru!m waishi, took place ar the foot o f Rainflower Mount, but these were dedicated to Cang Jie, the figure credited in legend with creating the trigramSj the prototype o f the Chinese writing system. So far no one has found concrete evidence ro substantiate the hypothesis. But, despite the lack o f evidence, che parallel between W u Jingzi and D u Shaoqing has acquired a life o f its own. Readers try to find counterparts to the story o f D u Shaoqing in the life o f W u Jingzi, and if they cannot, they take the story o f D u Shaoqing as that o f W u Jingzi, Since this (auto)biographical approach has led nowhere, let us consider another way o f reading che Taibo incident that might move us beyond this dilemma. W e do not know to what excent W u Jingzis account o f Y u Y u des participation in the Taibo ceremony is based on W u Peiyuan's life story. But we do know that W u Peiyuan dedicated a sacrifice to W u Taibo in 1763,

13. See "Wu Taibo shijia,Min Sima Qian, Shiji, juan 31, p. 1446. 14. In a postscript to Rulin waishi written in 1869, Jin He, based on a story he presumably heard from his mother, 3. descendant of one of Wu Jingzis distant relatives, claimed that the story of Du Shaoqing> an active participant in the Taibo ceremony, was Wu Jingzis self­ representation: '"The Master [Wu Jingzi] brought together like-minded fellows and con­ structed the Temple of Ancient Worthies (Xianxian Ci) at the foot o f Rainflower Mount and offered sacrifices ro some 230 worthies irom W u Taibo on. The temple was extremely magnificent, and its cost was very high. The Master sold his house in order to complete the construction project" (“Rutin waishi ba" in Li Hanqiu, ed., "RmIih waishi' huijiao huiping ben, pp. 764-65). 15- See Yuan Mei, Jtangning xinzhi,juart 10, pp. 6-7,

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almost ten years after W u Jingzis death. A s a native o f Meili, allegedly the hometown o f the legendary W u Taibo, W u Peiyuan considered Taibo his remote ancestor. After retiring from his official post, he returned to Meili and lived there until his death. In 1763, together with the magistrate o f Meili, he presided over a project for reconstructing a Taibo temple and partici­ pated in a ceremony dedicated to W u Taibo,16 Thus, co say that W u Jingzi’s narrative o f the Taibo ceremony is not a biographical account o f W u Peiyuan is not to say chat it has nothing to do with him. I f it tells us nothing about what W u Peiyuan did, it may still sug­ gest something he was expected to do. A s a novelist, W u Jingzi drew on W u Peiyuan for the biography o f his fictional counterpart in Chapter 36 only to cast him in a leading role in the fiction o f the Taibo ceremony in the follow­ ing chapter. But fiction influences life. W hen W u Peiyuan finally found an occasion co perform the Taibo ceremony, he was acting not merely in the story of his own life but in that o f someone elses as well. T h e story o f W u Jingzi and W u Peiyuan does not, however, end here. It continues with W u Lang, W u Jingzi's son. W hen W u Lang traveled to Meili and paid his respects to W u Peiyuan a dozen years after his father’s death in 1763, he was invited to visit the Taibo temple constructed under the direction o f W u Peiyuan and the county magistrate. In front o f that temple W u Lang composed a poem recording this memorable moment.17 W u Jingzi did not tell his friends what they should do; nor did he need to wait for them to explain the significance o f his novel. By making che Taibo ceremony the central event that unified his imagined literati community, W u Jingzi was looking to fiction as a way o f negotiating with his friends as well as with himself. Disillusioned with official institutions, W u consigned his hopes to Confucian ritual, which he thought might rescue him and his fellow literati from uselessness and oblivion. For his part, negotiation did not necessarily result in action; it amounted instead to narration, to the con­ struction o f a plot, and thus to action o f a different kind.

16. Wu Xi, Taibo Meili zhi,juan 4, p. 10b. 17. W u Lang, "Passing the Temple of Mount Hui, Staying in the Tingsong Convent, and Composing the Poem Together with Mcngquan [Wu Peiyuan] and Aitang," in Li Hanqiu, ed„ Wu Jingzi Wu Lang shiwen heji, p. 233. At th« end of the poem is a note by W u Lang; "Ai­ ring has recently had a Taibo Temple established within the courtyard o f the Temple of Mount Hui." See Chen Meilin, Wu Jingzi pingzhuan, pp. 290-91:and Li Hanqiu, ed., "Ruliw waishi' huijiao huiping hen, pp. 56-57.

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A s I have argued, writing a novel may have been pare o f W u ’s plan to get his friends involved. N o t onl^ could he consult his friends for help in design­ ing the fictional ritual, he could also make use o f their ritual notes. In R»Im waishi, which he wrote during his Nanjing years, he paid tribute to his friends by modeling his fictional heroes on them. A s we have seen, Chi Hengshan and Zhuang Shaoguang were based on Fan Shengmo and Cheng Tingzuo, with whom W u often discussed Confucian ritual and deliberated on projects for the practice o f ritual. W u also created D u Shaoqing, his autobiographical self, although in a more apologetic and less flattering fash­ ion, and arranged for D u to join the circle o f literati leaders o f the Taibo project. There is no doubt char writing rhe novel provided W u with an occa­ sion to review and reorganize his own life through narrative. It also equipped him with the symbolic means by which to reinforce his own bonds with his group and to solidify the group itself. W u Jingzi also wrote with his licerati friends in mind as part of his in­ tended (and actual) readership. Although we do not know when he began to show his friends the manuscript o f his novel, it is clear that before his death he had made himself known, at least within his own circle, as the author o f Rm(iVi waishi.16 These readers knew more than anyone else about the sources o f the novel, and W u left enough marks and clues to help them identify its referencs.19 In giving his manuscript ro his friends and acquaintances, he therefore knowingly confronted them with their fictional counterparts. Other facts highlight che significance o f this. For one thing, W u Jingzi did not complete his novel until a few years before his death, and the writing probably occupied about nineteen years. In the second half, the fictional characters depart on travels in an interesting parallel to what their originals did in real life. For instance, in Chapter 48 D u Shaoqing travels to Zhejiang to visit Y u Yude, an incident that is probably based'on the trip W u Jingzi made in 1748 or 1749 ro Zhejiang to visit W u Peiyuan, who had left Nanjing •



in 1746.

20;



*

18. In a poem written upon W u’s death, Wang Youzcng, one of his friendsj wrote, "Facing Mount Zhong every day in liis leisure life, he earned himself fame for his Rnli« waisbC (Li Hauqiu, ed., "Ru/in waisht"yanjiu ziliao, p. 17). 19. For instance, Yu Yude*s name is derived from the same passage of the glossary of the Oaiiic of Change (Yijin^) as W u Peiyuans; see He Zclian, "Rulin waishi* renwu benshi liaoltie, P- 45. 20. For W u Jingzis trip to visit W u Peiyuan in Zhejiang, see Chen Meilin, Wu Jingzi pingzhuan, p. 305, This also helps us dare when Chapter 4-S was written.

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Moreover, by considering the process by which Rw/m waishi took shape and was circulated, we may comprehend the role o f the novel within a complex and varied network o f interaction berween writer and reader. N o t only could his friends respond to the novel with action, which would then feed into the next part o f che narrative, but also W u Jingzi, as writer, could do much more than a biographer usually does: he could exert a certain influence over his friends by casting them in theatrical scenes and assigning them roles yet to be enacted in their own lives. Thus, by writing about the Taibo ceremony and its advocates, he was able to insert his narrative into the world o f experience and generated, in his own way, a dialogue between fiction and reality. W u Jingzi anH his friends were not alone in their efforts to promote Taibo worship. In 170$, during an imperial tour o f inspection o f the Jiang­ nan region, che Kangxi emperor wrote a dedication for the tablet o f a Taibo temple in Suzhou.

In 1737, the Qianlong emperor granted special funds to

renovate the tombs and temples o f ancient worthies, among them the Taibo temple in Meili.

Fourteen years later, in 1751, on his way,to visit the Jiang­

nan region, the Qianlong emperor sent special envoys to offer sacrifices at nearby Taibo temples. Following his grandfathers example, he wrote an in­ scription, praising T aib o s "supreme act o f yielding three times/’23 A t that time W u Jingzi may have been finishing or revising his novel in Nanjing. T h e emperors respect for W u Taibo may not have influenced the design of the novel, but this contemporary event resonates with the last chapter, in which the participants in the Taibo ceremony receive posthumous awards and are commemorated in an imperial ceremony.

The Taibo Myth, Supreme Virtue, and Absolute Truth Taibo worship is composed of two parts: myth and ritual. A s I have men­ tioned, the ritual is fully present in Rulin waishi, buc the myth is absent. I shall begin with what is absent and look for something in it that might help us understand what is present in the novel.24

21. Zhao Erxun, Qin^ ski gao, vol. ),jua» 11, p. 410. 22. Q ia Ying, "Chongxiu Taibomu bei," in W u Xi, cd., Taibo Meili zhi, juan 斗, p. 6a. 23. See Gao Jin, Nanxun sbengdian, pp. 113,1098-99. 24. For the debates on the Taibo narrative from the pre-Qing through the Han periods, see also Kitamura, "Go Taibaku jokoku no shiso shi." Kitamura mainly examines the debates by placing them in the political and intellectual history of the Han dynasty. He asks different questions and covers largely different sets of material.

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In praise o f W u Taibo's yielding o f the throne three times, Confucius said that he did so in such an indirect way that 'people could not even get around ro praising him.” In other words, in acting, W u Taibo leaves no visi­ ble trace o f his inner virtue, and his nobility is not evident enough to assure unanimous admiration. Th is has to do with two factors: first, W u Taibo made no public statements about his intentions; we are told that he yielded the throne on other pretexts* Zh en g X u an s (12 7-2 0 0 ) commentaiy on che Analects gave concrete form to the Taibo myth: Taibo first fled into the W u area on the pretext o f collecting herbs for his ailing father, then stayed there without attending his fathers funeral ceremony, and finally accommodated himself to W u customs by cutting his hair short and tattooing his body, actions that ruled out a return home. In all three yieldings, W u Taibo did everything possible to disguise the nature o f his noble deed; ironically, this turned out to be the only effective way o f achieving his goal* Second, this account o f W u Taibo's noble conduct does expose him to potential criticism. Although Zheng X u an s account was highly regarded by such Qing scholars as Liu Baonan (1791-1855) for its fairness, it unwittingly provoked a new round o f controversy* Fan N in g (339-401), for instance, o f­ fered an alternative reading that undermined the moral implications o f the sto ry :

25

W hen King Tai fell ill, Taibo left on the excuse of plucking herbs. He did not serve his father properly [or in accordance with the ritual codes] during the latter s lifetime* This was che first time Taibo yielded the throne* W hen King T ai passed away, Taibo did not return, so that Jili had to preside over King T a is funeral. Thus Taibo also failed co bury his father in accordance with the ritual codes- This was the second time Taibo yielded the throne* Taibo theri cut off his hair and tattooed his body to show that he could not be the successor to the throne, so that ag^in Jili had to preside over che sacrifice to King TaL Thus Taibo finally failed to sacrifice to his father in accor­ dance with the ritual codes* This was the third time Taibo yielded the throne* This was v/hy Zheng Xuan said that three times Taibo fled the throne indirectly* In the standard version o f the Taibo myth, his yielding o f the throne ro his younger brother is meant to demonstrate his brotherly love, but ir is also construed as a sign o f his filial piety to his father, because his father favored tHe younger brother as his successor. But even if brotlierly love and filial pi­ ety are the main themes o f the myth, W u Taibo can hardly be said ro have

Sec Huang Kart, Lunyu yishu, voh tS^

4, p, 23b,

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T H E TAIBO MYTH AND ITS DILEMMA

been a perfect brother and son: he left home when his father fell ill and never returned, even upon his fathers death. Even if he did return, as in some ver­ sions o f the story, that would only have raised more questions about his mo­ tivations for leaving and his relationship with his brother. Other commenta­ tors faulted W u Taibo for his private decision to forsake the public duties essential to Confucian ethics. A s an embodiment o f the ethics o f yielding, W u Taibo is far from perfection. A n y efforts to represent him as a Confu­ cian paragon &il miserably and, more often than not, end in contradiction. Confucius's recommendation o f W u Taibo as "the man o f virtue in its supreme form” thus begets two questions: H o w do we justify W u Taibo’s deed if he was caught between conflicting moral demands? I f W u Taibo did disguise his deed with false statements or excuses, how shall we claim access to the truth and "get around, to praising him ”? It is possible to endorse W u Taibo as a filial, son. In one version o f the Taibo story, his father favors his younger brother and intends to pass-the throne to him; W u Taibo’s move to the W u region can be construed as a fil­ ial deed in accord with his father’s will. But: as I shall discuss below, this ver­ sion o f the story would inevitably compromise W u Taibo’s image as a sage who yielded the throne voluntarily. In Part I, I introduced an alternative reading o f the Taibo myth and argued that W u T aib os decision to give up his private and public duties can be best justified on the grounds that in so doing he enacts a higher virtue rather than merely fulfilling his sociopolitical obligations. In other words, as Mthe man o f virtue in its supreme form,” he embodies a higher order than the mundane. In the Taibo myth, W u Taibo is given a title that denies his kingship, for he is called, paradoxically, a "king o f yielding” or a "king who yielded the throne" (rangwang). T h is title is less paradoxical than it seems ac first glance, since it may have been derived from the notion o f che "sage-king* (sheng wang), the ideal Confucian rulers o f legendary antiquity, known noc only for their benevolent governance but also for their yielding o f the throne to men o f virtue. T h e Chinese term for abdication o f the throne is shanrang, which echoes the title o f W u Taibo as rangwan^* It is said that Yao, a legendary sovereign o f remote antiquity, passed the crown to Shun, a sage o f the time, as did Shun co Yu. T h is form o f succession, according co Confiicians, was the norm before being replaced by primogeniture and other forms o f succes­ sion based on descent. T h e tradition o f yielding the throne became emblem­ atic o f a golden age when the political system was perfectly integrated into

T h e T a ibo M y th and the Problem o f N a n a t iv e

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the moral order as prescribed by Confucianism. A t stake in this grand narra­ tive is the story o f the Confucian sage-kings, who ruled as sages and yielded as kings. Those who succeeded them as kings were portrayed as no less vir­ tuous, for they, like the sage-kings themselves, were chosen precisely because they were sages. A n elaboration o f the same subject, the Taibo myth is conceived in a similar manner, W u Taibo, who yields the throne to his younger brother, seems to have been modeled after the sage-kings; he is posthumously en­ dowed with the title o f king. However, another and probably more persua­ sive way o f seating the case would be to say that the Taibo narrative tends to invalidate, rather than reinforce, the shanrang prototype o f the sage-king nar­ rative. T h e most obvious evidence for this is the dissolution o f that formu­ laic combination: instead o f being a sage-king, W u Taibo now has to choose between being a sage and being a king. T h e Taibo myth creates a peculiar situation in which any effort to make W u Taibo both sage and king would inevitably result in self-contradiction. T h a t is to say, if the sage-king model did apply, W u Taibo should become king, because 七 y yielding or declining the throne, he demonstrated a virtue that would qualify him for it. T h e Taibo narrative so conceived would have been left in irony. W hether intended or not, yielding would have become a necessary step in claiming the throne. W h at is described as moral conduct would be only a gesture calculated to cater public favor or a strategic move to gain power. Th e resulting scandal o f political conspiracy and power struggle would mar the Taibo myth, which has tried desperately to purge itself o f just such actions. Although both the sage-king story and the Taibo myth employ the shan­ rang prototype, they diverge in the way they treat the subject o f politics. T h e sage-king story sees politics as public service and status as the recognition of virtue. T h e correlation between virtue and status is twofold: since virtue is measured in terms o f status, those who acquire superior political status are the morally superior as well, hence the perfect combination o f sage and king. T h e Taibo myth, in contrast, separates sagehood from politics and places the sage above the king. In so doing, it also seems to have anticipated the problem embedded in the sage-king formulation:moralizing politics leads only to the politicizing, and thus the compromising, o f morality, because any claim to virtue becomes an implicit demand for status and power. T o be more specific, W u Taibo, as a sage, has to give up his sociopolitical obliga-

244

th e ta ib o m yth a n d its dilem m a

tionsj for an insistence on fulfilling them might be interpreted by his political rivals as an attempt to seek political authority. A nd accordingly, his yielding o f the throne best represents his commitment to higher virtue through the sacrifice o f his mundane interests. Here we see che prototype o f the Filial Guo story in Chapters 37 and 38 o f Rulin waishu Although a mythological claim is, by definition, self-contained and selfevident, one may still need narrative to specify and substantiate it. T h e ques­ tion is: W h a t kind? In the case ofKw/m waishi, the authoritative narrative has been savaged; in the larger context o f historical discourse o f the late imperial era, it becomes increasingly difficult to restore mjrchological faith and inno­ cence to the accumulated; and accordingly complicated, narrative o f what is called history. In face, W u Jingzi's focus on ritual practice does not redeem his ideal ritual from the irony o f discourse: the Taibo ceremony is retrospec­ tively viewed as a written program still to be carried out, and efforts to trans­ late it into concrete daily praxis are overcome by verbal and mental manipu­ lation. T h e Taibo myth does not enjoy a better fate. W u Jingzi alluded to it but did not articulate it in detail. T h e truth is that by his time there was no longer a single *’myth ”:it had been torn asunder by competing versions of narrative that permitted no consensus on what Taibo does or represents.

The Narrative of the Taibo Myth and Its Paradox In Correct Interpretation o f the Analects (Lunyu zbengyi), Liu Baonan, an emi­ nent Confucian scholar o f the Qing dynasty, paraphrased Zh en g Xuan:26 Taibo was the eldest son o f King T ai o f rhe Zhou dynasty [Zhou Taiwang, that is, Danfu] and had two younger brothers, Zhong^ong and Jili. When Taibo saw that Jili was virtuous and had a son who had a noble appearance [he later became King W en], he intended to have Jili established as successor to the throne; yet he had received no edict from King Tai authorizing it. When King Tai fell ill, Taibo therefore left for W u and Yue on the excuse o f picking herbs for medicine, and he did not return even after King T a is death. So Jili presided over his fathers funeral. This was the first rime Taibo yielded the throne. Then when Jili went to recall him in person, he again re­ fused to go to che funeral. This was the second time he yielded. The third time that he yielded the throne was when the funeral was over, and this rime he cut o ff his hair and tattooed his body. Since his virtue o f yielding three times was not demonstrated in an explicit way, people could not even find a way to praise him.

26. Liu Baonan, Lunyu zhen^yi, p. 57.

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In this account, W u Taibo favored his younger brother Jili and arranged for Jili co become the successor to the throne. In order to show his sincerity in yielding the throne, Taibo went to the W u region and never returned. Liu Baonan revised Zheng Xuan’s account slightly, however; a small change on his part alters the message o f the stoty. In Zh en g X u an s noce, the subject o f the second sentence is King T a i instead o f Taibo. According to Zheng Xuan, because King T a i intended co establish Jili as his successor, Taibo, King T a is eldest son and rightful heir, found no alrernarive,but to leave Z h o u territory. Put another way, Taibo did not ’’yielcT the throne until he realized that he was out o f favor with his father. N one o f the extant editions o f Zheng Xuan’s commentary on the Analects thac Liu Baonan could possibly have read supports his version.27 W ithout indicating the source o f his quotation, Liu explained that after making a careful comparison o f the different versions of the Taibo story, he concluded that only Zheng's commenrary as he quoted it was genuine or fair (^ttn),28 Here Liu Baonans concern is not so much what Taibo actually did as with what he should have done as a sage sanctioned by Confucius, Liu clearly knew that he must keep Taibo away from the taint of any possible power struggle. I f Taibo reached his decision only after his father's decision to make Jili his successor placed Taibo in an awkward and dangerous posi­ tion, his sagehood would be called into question. However, few o f the early historical records can be read to support Liu Baonans hypothesis. Liu himself must have discovered that he had mis­ quoted Zheng Xuan when comparing the quotation with its partial source in Sima Qian’s Sfjiji (the first half o f Zheng X u a n s note was based on "W u Taibo shijia'* [Hereditary house o f the W u lineage] o f the Sbji)- But Liu disregards Shiji, because Sima Qian's narrative supports the account o f an internal power struggle that drove Taibo away.

Moreover, Sima Qian

shrewdly suggested that Jili was born o f a woman who was not the mother

27.

For more information about the editions of Zheng Xuans commentary on The Ana­

lects, see Zheng Jingruo, Lunyu Zhtnpbi zbujtshu, pp. 118,402.

a8. Liu Baonan, Lm yu zJjengyi, p. 58, 29. According to "Zhou benji" (Basic annals of the Zhou) in the Shiji, King Tai had even sent a signal to Taibo and Zhongyong char he was about to pass the throne on to Jili and then to Jilis son Chang; "When Chang, Jili's son, was bora, auspicious omens appeared. Gugong (King TaiJ said: There must be someone who can make our lineage flourish. Isn't he Chang [chang means "ro flourish"*]广 (See Sima Qian, Shiji, juan 4, p. 115).

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THE TAIBO MYTH AND ITS DILEMMA

o f Taibo and Zhongyong.30 Hence, he posited a sinister competition over rhe succession between two half-brothers. Th e Zuo Commentary (Zuozhuan) begins long after T aib o s time. However, it documents incidents and dialogue that show us how Taibo was perceived in the Spring and Autum n period* In the fifth year o f Duke X i o f Lu, Gong Ziqi, a minister o f Y u , had a debate with his lord over a specific foreign pol­ icy: " 丁 he King said: 'T h e royal family o f Jin is from the same lineage as we are. H o w could they bring harm to us?" [Gong Ziqi] replied: 'Taibo and Y u Z hong [Zhongyong] were both King Tai's sons. However, since Taibo dis­ obeyed [King Tai], he failed to succeed to the throne/,,31 T h is passage en­ gendered many hypotheses and counterhypotheses in subsequent periods. Scholars never reached agreement on what prevented Taibo from ascending the throne; one hypothesises that Taibo refused his father's order to mount an expedition against the Shang; another hypothesis suggests rhat he failed to act in submission to his father*32 In these interpretations rhe image o f the Confucian sage is hopelessly compromised by the taint o f political struggle. Liu Baonan, like some other Qing scholars, insisted that if Taibo had ever disobeyed his father, it was only when his father issued an order establishing him as successor to the throne*33 However, no historical record suggests that such an edict was ever made or would have been made, if Taibo had not yielded the throne*

30. Shiji, juan 31, p, 1445. 4 31, Liu Wenqi, Chunqiu Zuoshi zhuanjiuzhu shuzheng, pp* 272-73. 32* Ibid. 33* Liu Baonan, Lunyu zbengyif p. 58, 34* A final passage that Liu Baonan would have gleaned from the Zuo Commentary would Wave been the following: in the first year of the reign of Duke Min of Lu, Shiwel, a minister of Jin, advised 'Shen Sheng, the crown prince of Jin, ro follow the model of Taibo when there was no possibility o f ascending the throne: "You had better run away in order not to be caught and persecuted* Wouldn’t it be best for you to be a Wu Taibo? [Although 厂ou will lose your kingdom], you can at least obtain a favorable reputation, instead of encountering possible punishment广 As Shiwei saw k, Shen Sheng faced the very situation that Taibo had faced, and he had to make a lifc-or-death choice, as Taibo evidently did. In Shiweis eyes, Taibo was worldly-wise and astute. He knew how to avoid impending trouble and seek whar was good for himself. In contrast to Confucius's paradoxical praise of hiding from praise, Shiwei thought that one could escape political persecution but win fame for yielding the throne* Seen from this perspective, Confucius ironically comes to represent the audience whose praise and applause make the Taibo drama possible in the first place (Liu Wenqi, Chunqiu Zuoshi zhuanjiuzhu shuzheng, p, 223)*

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History insists on poking its ugly face out from behind the mask o f the myth. T h e effort to repress contradictory evidence necessitated rhe creation o f a new narrative that generated even more problems than it was meant to resolve. I f speculation about T a ib o s motivation for withdrawal had already blurred the aura o f the Taibo myth, then a further account o f his act o f flee­ ing the throne plunged rhe myth back into the depths o f controversy. Zh en g Xuan left a detailed account o f W u T aib o s three yieldings: W u Taibo escapes to the W u region and remains there even after his fathers death. But the question that arises is: In what sense can Taibo be viewed as a Confucian paragon if he achieved the virtue o f noncompetitiveness at the expense o f filial piety? Th is question seems to have been anticipated by cer­ tain scholars. In order to reconcile the conflicting moral requirements, they gave Taibo one more chance to demonstrate his filial piety after he fled by claiming thar he did return upon his fathers death and attended his fathers funeral in person.35 However, it is almost impossible to rule out an alterna­ tive point o f view implicit in this revised account: in the eyes of Jili and his ministers, Taibo's return at such a crucial moment would have been a politi­ cal demonstration and a challenge to Jili's legitimacy. T h u s once again the Taibo myth would have been overshadowed by a power struggle that has been repressed but never fully eliminated. In Han Yings Illustrations of the Didactic Application of the Book of Odes (Han-

shi waizbuan), H an Ying (around 150

bce)

presented jusc such a version o f

the Taibo story, which unwittingly betrays itself: The superior man seeks gentleness and moderation in benevolence (ren); reverence and yielding he seeks in ritual (!i). I f he succeeds, he feels chat he has done right, and if he fails, he also feels thar he has done right. Thus the superior man in regard to the True W ay is like the farmer tilling his fields. Though he gets no great yield from the year’s harvest, he will not change. Danfu, namely, King Tai, had sons named Taibo, Zhongyong, and Jili. Jili had a son named Chang. King T ai regarded Chang a£ worthy and wished Jili to be his successor- Taibo left and went to Wu. W hen King Tai was on the point o f death he said [to Jili], "When I die, you go and yield your place to your two elder brothers. It may be they will not come, but you will have done the right thing and so you will feel at ease and justified/’ King T ai died and Jili went to W q and told his two elder brothers- His elder brothers went back with Jili.

35. Wang Chongs Lunheng, pp. 1330-31. 36. Han Ying, Hanshi waizbuan, vol. 10, juan 10, pp. jb-4^; trans. from Hightower, Han Sf)i Wsi Cbuan, p. 323.

24S

THB TAIBO

MYTH

AND ITS DILEMMA

A ll the ministers wished T aibo co put Jili on the throne, but Jili in turn made way for Taibo, who said to Zhongyong, "N ow all the ministers wish me to put Jili on the throne, but Jili in turn makes way for me. H ow shall we settle it 广 Zhongyong said, "If the point is to support one from i low and humble status, it will be all right to put Jili on the throne.** In the end Jili ascended the throne and raised King Wen. King W en actually received the Mandate o f Heaven and ruled as true king, A close reading o f this passage yields some disenchanting implications for the Taibo myth: first, when King T a i orders Jili to go and yield the throne to his elder brothers, he does not think that they will accept it, nor does he change his mind and tty to pass che throne to either o f them. T h e point is that Jili has to make such a gesture to legitimize his position and to "feel ar ease and justified,” Second, contrary to King T a is expectations, Taibo and' Zhongyong re­ turn together with Jili. T h e narration o f Taibo’s return is somewhat dubious. I f Taibo and Zhongyong decline Jilis resignation, they should noc return— or else return merely to help Jili establish himself as a legitimate king. T h is is, however, not the case. It may also be possible, as some scholars have sug­ gested, that Taibo and Zhongyong go back just co attend their fathers fu­ neral. However, King T a is funeral does not figure in this passage and is not offered as an excuse for Taibo's and Zhongyongs return. Third, soon after they return, they find themselves in an awkward posi­ tion: “All the ministers wished Taibo to put Jili on the throne广 T h e motion that Jili's ministers propose immediately removes Taibo from the position o f potential successor. Taibo finds himself kept away from center stage and be­ comes instead the audience for an old drama: the ministers insist that the successor ascend the throne, while the successor persists in declining it. Th e drama does noc end until Jili agrees一 as expected一 to accept the throne. Finally, upon his return, Taibo does nor decline the throne, nor does he want to. Instead o f saying "I wish to put Jili on the throne,” Taibo says, *A

11

the ministers wish me to put Jili on rhe .throne.” T h e question that Taibo asks is, ''W hat should I do about this 广 It is his turn to make a choice, but he actually has no options. W ith all the ministers on his side, Jili makes the ges­ ture o f declining the throne. Th is empty gesture demands an answering ges­ ture from Taibo, which, once made, is taken literally. T h e account o f Taibo in the Hanshi waizhuan presents a complex situa­ tion in which all the actors are to some extent implicated. T h e elaboration o f

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Confucian moral codes, set out at the beginning o f the passage, is under­ mined by the account that follows it. T h e sense o f irony becomes so evident that Liu Baonan found it intolerable: After King Tais death, Jili was supposed to ascend the throne. He had no reason to go to W u and report to Taibo and Zhongyong, casting aside funeral affairs and state affairs. If Taibo and Zhongyong had not followed Jili and returned, should Jili have stayed there with them, or accepted Taibos and Zhong^ongs refusal of the rhronc and recurned alone? The Waizhuans account is careless at this point. If Taibo had hastened home for the funeral of his father, as the eldest son of his facher he would have been the one to be put on the throne* How could those ministers propose to establish Jili? Moreover, if he returned later on, why at the outset did he escape into the barbarian area under the pretext of collecting herbs for medicine? T o Liu, T a ib o s return marks the end o f the Taibo myth, since it leads his heroes coward a moral dilemma in which none o f the available choices can be fully justified* However, instead o f admitting the collapse o f the Taibo mjah, Liu insisted that H an Y in g s account is careless (shu) or, like W a n g C hongs similar account, does not make much sense (wet da). Rejection o f the dubious accounts o f Taibo as exemplified in the Hanshi waizhuan creates a void, which is filled only b y wishful speculation- Th is speculation, however, bears the assertive tone o f mythological claim. After quoting some lines from the Book o f Odes, Liu Baonan commented:38 Judging by this. King Ji s Qili's] reverence toward his elder brothers was surely be* yond the reach of ordinary people- Someone who cherished a friendly affection like Taibo must have been aware of this. He knew that if he yielded the throne after his fathers deaths Jili would definitely not accept it. So he left when King Tai was ill under the pretext of plucking herbs. After King Tais death, when Jili went to recall Taibo, he must have urged him repeatedly [to return]* But Taibo definitely refused. The nfaibo shijia* (Hereditary house of Taibo) records that the barbarians consid­ ered him righteous, and so more than one thousand families followed him and es­ tablished him as their king. Such a situation did not permit Taibo to return home* Therefore, having no alremative, Jili accepted Taibos refusal. This, the orchodox reading o f the Taibo story in the Qing dynasty, reveals the limits o f Confucian mythmaking* In contrast to their precursors in the Eastern Z h o u and H an dynasties, who created myths o f the ancient sover-

37* Liu Baonan, Lunyu 38. Ibid.

p_ 59,

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2$0

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ITS DILEMMA

eigns, the Qing literati were obviously at a great disadvantage: they had to wrestle with the accumulated historical records. Historical anecdotes are multifarious, derived from heterogeneous sources, and can never be fullj^ re­ duced to the coherent, homogeneous framework required for mythmaking. W ith out alternative sources, the Q ing literati were engaged in the impossi­ ble mission o f constructing a myth from dubious, conflicting accounts. T heir narrative, therefore, deploys a desperate exegetical virtuosity in trying to make sense of the conflicting anecdotes about W u Taibo by imposing on them a virtue they do not possess. It rewrites them and squeezes them into a coherent narrative framework, while admitting its dependence on them as the only source. In fact, the raw material o f historical anecdotes could not easily be absorbed; it was often carried in a distorted form in the narrative o f the myth as a destructive force that prevented the myth from completing its design.39 There are thus rwo Taibos in two different worlds. For the Taibo o f the Taibo myth, the drama is about a world prescribed by the ethics o f yielding or noncompetitiveness, in which everyone gives priority to the concerns o f others and nothing is more important than the harmonious relationships that sustain communal life. In this account, both Taibo and Jili are granted a chance to demonstrate the virtue o f noncompetitiveness. Jili shows reluc­ tance to be put on the throne and repeatedly begs Taibo co return. H is rejec­ tion by Taibo in turn enhances Taibo’s sincerity. However, the Taibo o f che historical anecdotes is concerned primarily with politics, the power struggle, the dilemma o f moral choice, and the pos­ sibility o f surviving political persecution and the life o f an exile. H e struggles between conflicting obligations and finds no perfect solution. W orse still, he is eventually left in a world governed by a different logic, in which the ethic

39.1am thinking particularly of the moment in Zheng Xuans account when W u Taibo decides to cut off his hair and tattoo his body in order to show his determination not to re­ turn home. If the Qing scholars made this a part of the standard version o f the Taibo myth, was there any wajf to reconcile the W u Taibo who accommodated himself to barbarian cus­ toms with the W u Taibo who was believed to have brought the civilization of central China to the barbarian region? This small anecdote has several variations, which intersect or overlap with each other. Any Qing scholar who approved the Taibo myth might still have had a hid­ den memory of a Z uo Commentary account, in which Zhongj^ong, as successor to W u Taibo, was also censured for having made compromises with baibarian customs. See U u Wenqi, Chunqiu Zuoshi zhuattjiuzhu shuzheng, p. 346.

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o f noncompetitiveness is a mere decoration that disguises the mechanism o f politics and the relations o f power. Obviously, these two Taibos cannot coexist* But without the support o f narrative, the mythological claim o f Taibo's absolute, supreme virtue tells us nothing but the fact that it is necessary* W h en people rake it seriously and give it the concrete form o f narrative, it collapses, turning into the fragments o f a story that the mythmakers do not want to hear一 a story that suggests a power struggle, political persecution, and rhe moral dilemmas o f individual choice, A similar and subtler situation can be found in an extended version o f the Taibo myth in The Flowers in the Mirror. In its account o f the Country o f Gentlemen, whose inhabitants are known for the virtue o f yielding or non­ competitiveness, The Flowers describes a scene in a noisy marketplace, A soldier, with something in his hands, was bargaining wirh a shopkeeper, saying, *Tou have such a wonderful product, but yon are charging so little for it! H ow could I acccpc it without feeling uneasy? Please do me a favor by raising the price so that I can accept it. I f you refuse, it must mean that you are not going to do me the favor o f doing business with me/’ Tang A o whispered to Duo Jiugong, “In doing business, only the seller sets the price, while the buyer tries to lower it. Now, although the seller has named a price, the buyer hasn’t bargained* Instead, he has tried to raise the price, I have never heard such a conversation before. This must be what they mean by 'doing without compe­ tition/h Then they heard the shopkeeper

"Your presence here is a great com­

pliment to me. H ow can I not follow your instructions? But I do feel ashamed一 I have aiked a high price, yet you leave me no room to hide, saving that my price is too low* T o be honest, the article has no fixed price; it is not worth che price 虹ked. A s the saying goes: *The price asked is as high as heaven, that offered is as low as earth/ N ow you didn't bargain; instead, you tried to make the price even higher* Your nature is so gentle that I am afraid that I must ask you to go shopping else­ where, for I cannot comply with your w ishes, Tang Ao said, HJT h e price asked is as high as heaven, the one offered is as low as earth* is a formula used by buyers, and *The article has no fixed price; it is not quite worth the price asked* is also a phrase used by buyers* But what is interesting is that now they come, surprisingly, from the : mouth o f the sener/* Then they heard the soldier say,*Tou have charged me so little for this wonderful article, yet yon put the blame on the gentleness o f my nature- A re you not infringing on the way of forbear­ ance? The business will not be handled fairly unless both sides stop cheating each other. Everyone has his own secret calculations. H ow could I be fooled by you?”

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The conversation lasted a while, with the seller scill refusing to charge more. The soldier then lost his patience. He paid what was asked, but took only half of what he paid for, then started to leave. Bat could the shopkeeper let him go? No, he stopped him, saying, *You have paid too much but taken too little," Along came 2 pair of old men, who proposed a fair compromise. The dispute was finally settled when the soldier was ordered to take 80 percent of what he had paid for. Tang Ao and Duo Jiugong could not help nodding their approval of this.40 This dramatic scene o f reversed bargaining serves, it would seem, to illus­ trate the virtue o f communal congeniality, the approved code o f private and public conduct in the Country o f Gentlemen. But it is by no means a simple affirmation o f the Taibo myth. Th e ethic o f yielding is predicated on a world o f imperfection, in which most people will take advantage when it is offered to them. Genclemen (Junzi) always need small men (xiaoren) to help them define themselves. In a world in which everyone is a gentleman, conflict is re­ introduced. T h e old game o f competition now continues in a reversed form, as the very logic of noncompeririveness, carried to irs extreme, leads co a new form o f competition. Although the buyer and seller exchange their roles in bargaining, their way o f making their cases remains largely unchanged. W hen the,buyer protests, "Everyone has his own secret calculations. H o w could I be fooled by y o u r he makes the situation even more ambiguous, if not sinister. T h e ritual o f yielding, once motivated by "secret calculations,” verges on a parody o f itself. T h e account o f the Country o f Gentlemen confronts us again with the problem in the narrative o f the Taibo mjT: h. T h e two gentlemen do yield to each other in the marketplace, but their act o f yielding ends up becoming not a rejection but a reversed simulation of the strategy of market negotia­ tion. Sim ilarly if W u Taibo yields the throne, that does not necessarily make him a man o f virtue, for the face value o f the story might be subject to reversal. T h e most ironic scene in Liu Baonans version o f the myth comes when W u Taibo and Jili compete in yielding to each other. T h is scene amounts to nothing more than a hollow performance, since both are under public pressure to show, their sincerity in declining the throne. T h e historical texts testify that W u T aibos decision to yield the throne was predicated on a situation over which he had little control. It might well be perceived as part o f the political game: a sign o f defeat, a strategy for survival, or a gesture thar was solicited and then taken literally by his political rivals. W u Taib os en40* Li Rtizhenf/t«gbw(J yuant pp* 66-67.

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gagement in establishing the state o f Gouwu might also be an indication o f the continuous confrontation between him and his half-brother, who took his place and became the head, o f the Z h o u clan in central China. Th e problem for the defenders o f T aib os virtue is that their favorite story about che king o f yielding seems always to have carried within itself a hidden story o f competition and contention. A s a result, they can never pro­ vide a concrete

coherent narrative co justify their approval o fW u Taibo.

In fact, representing W u Taibo as an embodiment o f a moral order higher than the existing sociopolicicai one demands a closed, autonomous sphere. T h e rhetoric o f exclusion or repression is essential in claiming Taibo*s virtue. There is, however, a constant threat o f invasion by the mundane world and its own logic o f reasoning and narration. Dependent on the historical texts, the Taibo myth finds it impossible to eliminate the alternative narration that views Taibo as a victim of, or the losing party in, a political struggle, and a controversial figure caught between conflicting social and moral demands. N o t unlike the Taibo myth, Rulin waishi asserts a ritualized world beyond negotiation and controversy, but instead o f taking an absolutist stance, its narrative points in the opposite direction— skepticism and iconoclasm are its main driving forces. In retelling the story o f yielding, W u Jingzi repro­ duced the conflicts that had wrecked the Taibo narrative and questioned the very possibility o f his own mythological claim in Rulin waishi.

CHAPTER

9

M o r a l Im agin ation a n d Self-Rejlexivity

T h e Taibo myth, as shown in the preceding chapter, is a bald presentation o f the virtue o f yielding without a narrative o f its own. Once put in con­ crete narrative form, the myth tells a story thar unwittingly undermines its assertion. Ruim waishi preserves the moral vision o f the myth without ren­ dering it in narrative. W u Taibo is therefore presented as the symbol o f an abstract ideal; an object o f longing and memory, he is duly absent from the pages o f the novel. Although the Taibo myth itself is omitted, ics motifs, however, persist in a number o f variations and offer a key to the interpreta­ tion o f Chapters 31 through 37. Moving toward the construction o f a ritual­ ized world, the novel, like the Taibo myth, takes up the m otif o f with­ drawal from the mundane world. A s if to echo W u Taibo’s legendary cHree yieldings, W u Jingzi represented three withdrawals and declinings o f impe­ rial offers and recommendations for special examinations. In place o f the legendary hero is Y u Yude, ritual master o f the Taibo ceremony and the present-day W u Taibo. Around Y u, a group o f literati-admirers o f W u Taibo re-enact portions o f the Taibo myth in their lives. T h e question that guides this reading o f Chapters 31 through 37 is: H o w does W u Jingzi cope with the problems that come with the narrative of the Taibo myth as he rewrites iti

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S(orie5 of Yielding Chapters 31 through 37 introduce four major characters one after another D u Shaoqing, Chi Hengshan, Zh uan g Shaoguang, and Y u Yude, These characters organize the Taibo ceremony and represent the literati conununity it symbolizes. Y u holds the degree o f palace graduate and is a tutor in the imperial college, but the other three, like most o f the participants in the ceremony, are neither civil officials closely associated with the imperial court nor members o f the local elite. In the Taibo temple, they try to define a separate and privileged space for themselves in order to escape troubles like those encountered by Zhuang in the imperial court and D u in his home­ town. Accordingly, the ceremony dedicated to W u Taibo follows neither court ritual nor Confucian &mily ritual. It celebrates not the existing socio­ political order and hierarchy but the order o f the imagined ritual community. A s I discussed in Parr I, the narrative in this section o f the novel begins with the literati’s declining o f official offers a.nd their consequent withdrawal from the mundane world. In other words, the novel initiates a new stage o f its de­ velopment by reworking the Taibo myth. W h en we first encounter D u Shaoqing,-for example, he is in his home­ town o f Tianchang. D u has only the xiucai, licentiate, degree, which would not truly qualify him for membership in the local elite. But as a member o f the important D u family, which has produced several generations o f provin­ cial and palace graduates, it is only natural thac he becomes the focus o f at­ tention in local affairs. But what we read here is a story o f failure, a story about the problems o f playing the role o f local gentry. From the beginning, we are told that D u Shaoqing refuses to play that conventional role: he is tired o f being entangled in disputes and daily rou­ tines. N o r does he have any interest in passing a higher level o f the civil ser­ vice examinations in order to secure entry into the official world and en­ hance the prestige o f his family in the community. Instead, he assumes the role o f the big patron and gives his money away without even demanding any proof o f need. H is generosity makes him the prey o f swindlers, who flock to his household, reminiscent in many ways o f the Lou brothers. A s if the' Lou brothers episode (Chapters 9 to 12) were being re-enacted, D u steps in to resume the drama they left unfinished. Iron-Armed Zhang, the selfproclaimed swordsman who cheated the brothers and then failed to return as promised, now reappears, making himself D u s honored houseguest under

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a different name and a forged identity. In Chapter 32, the narrator does, in­ deed, relate the Du story as an extended and competing version o f the Lou brothers' "gallant deeds'* (haoju). But D u Shaoqing does not become simply another Lou brother. Unlike the brothers, D u is not completely blind to the role he assumes and the situation he confronts. N o r does he believe, as they did, in the stories the people tell about themselves. A t the transitional point from Chapters a -30 co Chapters 31-37, D u represents another individual waging war against vul­ garity, but he lostt faith in what he is doing. Local society, like the official world, is deeply embroiled in endless struggles for wealth and prestige, and even D u Shaoqing, who stands up against these powers, is hardly immune to their influence. In Chapter 31, D u Shenqing, D u Shaoqings cousin, describes him as someone who "cannot stand talk about officials or rich men" (R. 4 21; S. 338). Unlike his cousins, D u Shaoqing opens Kis door only to visitors such as Iron-Arm ed Zhang. H e never invites local officials and wealthy merchants to his house; nor does he allow them to dominate the conversation o f his in­ vited guests. But D u Shaoqing himself never stops talking about them. W henever possible, he makes them his target o f verbal assault. A nd this be­ comes his way o f defining himself. There is obviously nothing he can do, as he realizes, to prevent the rising literati from obtaining prestigious status. But he tries to compensate for his own decline in status by asserting what he sees as family tradition and culture. O n that basis, he is able to reverse his re­ lationship wich the local officials: he considers himself 3. teacher but he would not accept the local magistrate as his student, even if the latter in­ sisted (o f course, this never happens). W hen urged by his fellow literati to pay his respects to the local magistrate, who has recently obtained the title o f palace graduate, D u Shaoqing responds:

*1must leave it to you, Third Brother, to call on magistrates and pay your respects as a student/' replied Du. "Why, in my father's time— to say nothing of my grandfa­ thers and great-grandfathers— heaven knows how many magistrates came here! I’m sorry I passed the district examination, since it means I have to address the local magistrate

my teacher! As for this Magistrate Wang, who crawled out of some

dust heap to pass the metropolitan examination— I wouldn't want him as my stu­ dent! W hy should I meet him?" (R* 430*, S. 345-46) D u might achieve a verbal and psychological' triumph over the magistrate, but he is unaware chac he lives in a novel that does not fully^ confirm his

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words. W h a t D u considers his family legacy is inextricably bound with de­ grees and official status, D u Shenqing's account o f the family history in Chapter 31 reveals thac his ancestors, o f whom Shaoqing is extremely proud, rose in the world precisely through the civil service examinations. Like M ag­ istrate W ang, they were provincial and palace graduates. T h e conflict between D u Shaoqing and the local magistrate— between a descendant o f palace graduates and a current palace graduate_ contributes little to the moral drama that D u Shaoqing would like. W here D u sees him­ self as a moral hero battling alone against vulgar customs, others see some­ thing else. M r. Gao, a Hanlin scholar, describes him as a hopeless prodigal and an example o f whar a literatus should not be. "I f youll allow me to say so,” M r. Gao says to Chi Hengshan, D u Shaoqings friend, "this Shaoqing is the first complete wastrel his family has produced!" According to Gao, Du Shaoqing himself is the person responsible for the decline o f the family leg­ acy upon which he himself relies entirely. D u Shenqing does not share M r. Gao's viewpoint, but he sees Shaoqing as a pretentious person, a self-styled wbig shot" (dalaoguan), who squanders his family property in exchange for personal fame. A nd he cares more about his own image chan the people he helps. "H e likes to be the one and only patron helping anybody" says D u Shenqing. ’’H e doesn't like others ro join in” (R. 4 21-22 ; S. 337). In advising air acquaintance to go to D u Shaoqing for financial support, he suggests, "D on't cell him, for instance, how good Prefect Xiang was to you. Keep on harping about che fact that he is the only true patron in the worlcT (R- 422; S. 338). D u Shenqing is trying to divert to D u Shaoqing chose who come to him for help, yet at the same time he reinterprets D u Shaoqings self­ representation as a generous patron. It is not pure coincidence that rhe man whom D u Shenqing advises is the head o f a local acting troupe. Before he takes his own part in the drama to benefit himself as well as assise in D u Shaoqing’s self-representation, he prepares himself by rehearsing first with D u Shenqing and then with D u Shaoqing's steward. A s the drama unfolds in the way that D u Shenqing has predicted, we can only watch ar an ironic distance. This is also true o f all the other actors in the similar dramas staged in D u Shaoqings household. Indeed, in the eyes o f those well informed about the secrets o f D u Shaoqings self-fashioning, D u is merely an actor in the.same play, exchanging his money for fame* His cynical and sometimes eccentric resistance ro what he sees as corrupt local customs is another and subtler form o f compromise, if not o f cooperation. Despite his declared ges­

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ture o f opposition, he remains an insider whose rebellion is preconditioned by what he opposes. T h e story o f D u Shaoqing consists o f two parts: the first shows it is im­ possible to revitalize the ethic narrative within the context o f his hometown society; the second searches for the world outside or beyond, a world located in Nanjing* A s we shall see below, D u s departure from Kis^hometown is immediately followed b y his declining an official recommendation for a spe­ cial examination. Thus, between his hometown and the center o f the official world Du finally finds a place for himself. T h e moment when D u Shaoqing declines the official recommendation deserves careful examination for it takes on the motif o f withdrawal that governs nor merely D u s story but the next several chapters o f the novel. W ith Du, the pretext for withdrawing is illness. W hen the local official who wants to recommend him comes to pay his respects, D ir pretends to be so sick that he cannot even stand up* Critics o f Rulin waishi have noticed that this incident may derive from W u Jingzis own life* In 1735, two years after he moved .to Nanjing, he was recommended for the prestigious erudite scholar {boxut hongci) examination. It was prefaced by several preliminary lo­ cal examinations and finally took place in the imperial court in the fall o f the following y^ear* W u took three preliminary examinations, but he turned down a formal recommendation and never made it to the court.1 Cheng Jin­ fang (1718-84), W u s friend, recorded rhe incident in his biography of W u without giving reasons for W u s decision* Other records provide two expla­ nations: he turned down the recommendation because he was sick or he feigned illness in order to avoid taking the examination. Although the for­ mer has been proved to be close to the truth, W u Jingzi adopted the latter in Rwltn waishi in his account o f his fictional alter ego. In so doing, he obviously reinterprets the incident o f his own past, disguising it with the excuse that he makes for his character* But at the same time he also allows his character to do what he wishes for himself. Unlike W u , whose withdrawal from the examination was^ by and large, an unhappy incident, D u Shaoqings decision to withdraw is deliberate, D u Shaoqings kneeling before the magistrate also has uncanny bio­ graphical references* In 1729, at age 29, W u Jingzi took a qualifying test for the provincial examination. In a poem by a friend in celebration o f his thirti-

1.

190-232.

F o t a co m p re h e n siv e a c c o u n t o f th is in cid e n t, see C h e n M e ilin , W u jln ^ z l pingd7uant p p .

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erh birthday, W u is said to have knelt and begged an exam iner to allow him to pass. F o r W u , this turned out to be dreadfully hum iliating: rather than com plying w ith his petition, the exam iner reprim anded him in public.2 A l­ though rhis rraumaric incident has left no trace in W u s extant poem s and prose, it is represented in his novel in reverse: He [Du Shaoqing] knelt down, then failed to get up again. The magistrate hastily helped him to his feet, and they sat down. "The court has issued an important de­ cree, and Governor Li asks for your help/' said Magistrate Deng, “I had no idea you were so ill* How soon do you think you will be able to travel?" T m afraid my illness may prove incurable, hence what you ask is impossible/’ re­ plied Du. **1 must,, beg Your Honor to make my apologies for

He took a peti-

rion from his sleeve and gave ir to the magistrate, who, in view of the circumstance, did not like to prolong his visit. “I will take my leave, sir/' said Magistrate Deng, "I fear I have tired you. All I can do is send in a report to my superiors and await Governor Lis decision,’ "Thank you, Your Honor* Forgive me if I do not see you out," The magistrate bade Du farewell, and left in his sedan-chair* (R. 463-64; S* 373) B oth the nature and the context o f the traum atic incident have been changed: kneeling before an official as W u once did, D u Shaoqing now begs not to be recom m ended as a candidate for a prestigious official ejraminarion. Engaged in a project o f rew riting his personal history, W u Jin gzi allows his fictional alter ego to redeem and com pensate for his ow n past. In the story that follows, Z h u a n g Shaoguang, D u s fellow literatus, re­ sponds, to the official recom m endation in a different way. H e goes ro the capital in response to the im perial call, but only to quit. Z h u a n g s trip from N a n jin g to Beijing, which occupies m ost o f C h apters 34 and 35, polarizes the choice between tem ple and court* Y e t even before Z h u a n g sets out, he realizes that his jo u rn ey to the capital m ay inconveniently prevent him from attending the T a ib o cerem ony; he has to make his decision even before he leaves. Z h u a n g s wife then raises a question that every reader w ould ask: W h y does Z h u a n g have to go to court i f he has decided not to take an official post? Z h u a n g s answ er reveals the principle that sustains his decision: *W e are not herm its. Since a decree Has been issued sum m oning me to court, it is m y duty as a subject to go" (R* 472; S. 380-81), H is decision poses an alternative

2* See Jin Liangrtiing^ wH e W u Qing zuo/J pp* 5-6*

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t h e taibo m y th and its dilem m a

to, and an im plicit criticism of, D u ’s choice. Ic also problem acizes the role that D u claims. Indeed, D u distances h im self from the com m unity o f his clan and refuses to enter the official w orld. H e therefore cases o f f the roles traditionally associated w ith literati: he is now neither a m em ber o f the local gentry nor a civil official. T h e only option for D u is to rem ain alone as a herm it, a role that Z h u a n g refuses. H ow ever, Z h u a n g S h ao gu an gs w ords soon come back to haunt him . A l­ though he intends to fulfill his public duty, he returns from court having gained nothing except the Y u a n w u L a k e o f N an jin g as an im perial award. T h is token gesrure o f im perial favor makes him , ironically, a state-sponsored herm it, whether he likes it o r not. In addition to the lake, Z h u a n g also wins for h im self the fame otherw ise im possible to obtain. Even on his w ay hom e, he is surrounded by adm irers: his act o f declining public service has m ade him the center o f public attention. T h e problem s w ith regard to Z h u a n g s choice are highlighted in the com m ents by D r. Y u Y u d e in C h a p ter 36. W h e n the em peror is seeking m en o f talent, a fellow official encourages Y u to seek a recom m endation from the governor. T h is is a. great court ceremony," said You, "I im thinking o f asking Governor Kang to recommend you, sir." "I am not good enough for that," replied Dr. Yu with a smile. "And if Governor Kang wishes to recommend someone, the choice is up to him. T o ask such a favor is hardly a sign o f high moral character!" “I f you don't want an official career, sir, wait till you receive a summons from the emperor. You may be called for an audience or you may noc; but by refusing to take office and returning home, you will demonstrate your superiority even more clearly.** "You are wrong there," retorted Yu. "You want me to ask for a recommendation,

yet refuse to take office if I am summoned inco the emperor’s presence. That would show lack o f sincerity both in requesting a recommendation and in refusing to be­ come an official. W hat sort o f behavior is that?" (R. 494: S. 400) Y u Y u d e's rem arks, placed not far from the story o f Z h u a n g Shaoguang, provide an alternative reading o f Z h u a n g s decision. W h ere Z h u a n g defends his trip to court in term s o f fulfilling his public obligations, Y u sees a lack o f sincerity. W h e n the three different reactions to the official recom m enda-

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tions are juxtaposed, both Z h u a n g s final w ithdraw al and D u ’s feigned ill­ ness are open to question.3 N o one is perfect, it w o u ld seem, except Y u Y u d e. A n d Y u is exceptional in m any regards. A lth o u gh he refuses to seek official recom m endation for him self, he does take the civil service exam ination. O f the m em bers o f the N a n jin g literati group, Y u is the only one w ith the title o f palace graduate. S o o n after obtaining his degree, he is appointed tutor o f the Im perial C o l­ lege in N an jin g. T h e perfection o f Y u lies in part, however, in his ability to com bine all tlie incom patibles: he is an official o f reclusive style and also a palace graduate, in D u S h ao q in gs w ords, w ith out the airs o f a palace gradu­ ate (jinshi qi). M artin H u an g com m ents: In the novel Yu Yude is carefully described as someone for whom the distinction be­ tween official and commoner is truly meaningless. H e seems to have transcended the traditional concern whether one should consciously play the role of a recluse or an official, a concern chat troubled W u Jingzi and many other characters such as Du Shaoqing or even Zhuang Shaoguang in the novel.4 In its narrative o f Y u Y u d e, the novel seems to have reached its ow n extrem e o f fictionality: by freeing its hero from the dom inant sociopolitical forces that condition his public roles, it m akes the im possible possible. W h ile Y u Y u d e goes beyond the restrictions o f his social roles, his fel­ low literati struggle w ith the lim its im posed on them. R ecognizing those lim its brings us once again to the T a ib o m yth, which is stuck w ith the con­ flicting narrative accounts. A lthough, W u T a ib o yields the throne three times, none o f his yieldings is perfect, and W u h im self is constantly subject to alternative evaluations. T h e same is true o f the three characters' reac­ tions to official recom m endation in R«li« waishi. L ike W u T a ib o , w hose decision to w ithdraw is made at the price o f his public obligations, D u Sh aoqin g finds h im self criticized for being inactive and socially irresponsi­ ble. Yec, Z h u a n g S h ao gu an gs declining o f an official recom m endation does not save him the criticism that W u T a ib o suffered, for his act o f yielding m ight be construed as a deliberate strategy to seek personal fame. T h e story o f Y u Y u d e provides no realistic alternatives, since Y u lives in a w orld different from that o f his fellow literati and is thus free o f the agonizing problem o f role choice thac tears them apart. A s we have seen repeatedly,

3. See Martin Huangs Literati andSclJ-Re/Prtsentationrp* 63, 4. lbid,t 64,

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Rulin waishi never allow s us co com e aw ay w ith a single view point o f the choices literati m ake. It show s us other aspects o f the same decision and then juxtaposes that decision w ith other equally i f not m ore problem atic ones, leaving us w ith no better options. It w ould certainly be wrong, nevertheless, i f we fail co differentiate the literati w ho refuse to serve from those w ho seek success in their official ca­ reers. T h e face that the novel renders no sim ple ju dgm ent on w hat is right and w rong does not mean that it sees no difference between them . Ic is, co be sure, aware o f the possible Confucian critique o f the literatis decision to w ith draw — unless it is done as a sign o f despair w hen the D a o does n ot pre­ vail. Y e t to ju stify the literati's engagement in politics in term s o f fulfilling their public duty, as C onfucians usually do, proves more problem atic, since it offers literati a legitim ate excuse for their ow n struggle for status and pow er. A s show n in previous parts o f the novel, the perception o f this p rob­ lem in Confucian discourse provides the starting point for its criticism o f literati culture. B u t it soon becom es clear that the effort to explore solutions to this problem is not devoid o f critical self-reflection. H ere once again we see the parallel between Ru/i« waishi and the T a ib o narrative— or m ore precisely, the novel now stum bles between the T a ib o m yth and the controversial accounts o f T a ib o . N o t unlike the historical epi­ sodes about W u T a ib o , it integrates m ultiple perspectives into its narrative o f D u s and Z h u a n g s decisions to w ithdraw . B u r following the T a ib o m yth, it never denies its approval o f their decisions or presents alternatives. D u gets stuck in his hom etow n, incapable o f inventing scenarios for change; a frustrated Z h u a n g at court sees no better prospect for him self. A s the novel unfolds, their decisions to w ithdraw become m atters o f necessity. B u t the question rem ains: D id W u Jin g zi find a w ay o f narrating the ritualistic act o f yielding or w ithdraw al w ithout slipping into the trap o f the T a ib o myth? O bviously, W u was unable to describe the noble deeds o f yielding and w ithdraw ing w ithout at the same time noticing alternative in ­ terpretations. In m ost cases, he em braces these alternatives in his ow n narra­ tive, B u t in the case o f Y u Y u d e, he seems to have evoked all the alternatives only to rule them out as either insubstantial or irrelevant, thereby creating a. story o f yielding on its ow n terms. L et us com pare tw o scenes in the narra­ tives o f Z h u a n g Shaoguang and Y u Y u d e. O n his wzy back hom e, Z h u a n g Shaoguang meets several m erchants and Uterati.

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"Though His Majesty wished to make you a minister, you. declined all official rank/' said the merchants. "What nobility of mind this shows!" "I understand Mr. Zhuangs scruples," said Xiao Boquan. "With Kis rare gifts, he wishes to enter upon an official career the orthodox way, and looks down upon appointment by recommendation. He has come back now to waic for the next examination. Since the emperor knows him, he is sure to come first on the list." (R. 484; S. 391) A s outsiders to the literati circle, the m erchants first offer a. straightforw ard interpretation o f Z h u a n g s noble deed. B ut X ia o Boquan, a literatus, im m e­ diately dism isses it as too naive a reading o f Z h u a n g s m ind, because, in his w ords, "I understand M r. Z h u a n g s scruples/' or literally, "I understand w h at M r. Z h u a n g s inrenrions (yisi) a r e . In a reading o f this scene, Ja c k C h e n com m ents: The function of the claim is to establish 1 secret community of understanding be­ tween Zhuang and Xiao: "I know what your intentions are (so we are complicit to­ gether in our knowledge of your subterfuge)." The statement functions as a "know­ ing wink," a recognition of mutually shared information or guilt. What Xiao's claim assumes is that both Xiao and Zhuang proceed from the same premise: to garner fame and advancement in the official realm by a feigned disinterest-5 O ne m ay well argue that X iao , in claim ing a shared code and m utual under­ standing w ith Z h u an g, merely tells us about him self, but his claim is not en­ tirely false. F o r the em peror does kn ow Z h u an g, and Z h u a n g s rejection o f the e m p erors offer does bring him prestige. M oreover, we can hardly read this scene out o f context. T h e previous section o f the novel portrays m any literati characters w ho act on bad faith and seek prestige through a calculated gesture o f disinterest. W ith suspicion hovering in the air, we can h ardly rule ou t the possibility that Z h u a n g is merely another such character, or "one o f us/* as in X ia o B o q u an s claim . It is, indeed, difficult to distinguish Z h u a n g from them , i f w e base our judgm ent m erely on ou r observation o f his external behavior. In the absence o f the conventional narrator, no one is in the position to ’’k n ow /’ or claim an absolute knowledge of, Z h u a n g s intention. A s a ritualist, W u Jin g z i refused to enter the m urky sphere o f intentions, verbal arriculations, and interpretations in representing his characters, unless he had no choice. T h a t is the area w here w hat he portrayed as the narrative

5. See Jack W . Chen, N arrative Claims, Local Knowledges, I think the author for per­ mission to quote from this unpublished paper.

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or discursive ritual gers stuck* B u t did he manage to present ascetic ritual w ithout at the same tim e exposing it to interpretations? W a s he able to in­ vent a kind o f narrative that puts an end to perspectivism or, at leasr, is less threatening to his representation o f the ritualistic code_ the code o f yielding in particular and his im agined ritualized w orld in general? In his account o f Y u Y ud e, W u Jin gzi adopted w hat I shall call the 'rh eto ric o f negation" as a w ay o f reducing, i f not excluding, narrative am bi­ guities* W e are told that Y u Y u d e once saved a poor peasant from suicide by giving him financial su pp ort to help bu ry his deceased father. T h e n after six years o f serving as a private tutor, Y u has a chance to cake the provincial ex­ am ination,

HI am sure you will pa5s high on the list this ycarfNsaid M r. Q i [the host of Yu Yude], when he came to see him off. rtWh^ do you

that?" asked Dr, Yu,

*Tou have done so many secret acts o f kindness广 "W hat secret acts o f kindness have I done, uncled’ "Welly for one thing, you put your whole heart into finding chat family a burial ground. And then Ivc heard how you saved that fellow whose father Kad died. These arc all secret acts o f kindness/ Dr. Yu smiled, “Good deeds should be done so unobtrusively that none but the doer knows o f them/ he said. "Since you have heard of those things, uncle, they arent secret acts of kindness anymore^ rtYes, they are广 insisted the old man* “This year you will pass 广 (R. 493; S. 399) T h a t Y u helps others w ith ou t claim ing credit for h im self is again a reflec­ tion o f rhe T a ib o m yth, C on fu ciu s adm ired W u precisely because he yielded his right to rule in such w ay that “people could not even get around to praising h im : In other w ords, it is yinde— ^secret acts o f kindness 广 or m ore literally "hidden virtues"— rhar make W u T a ib o (and likewise, Y u Y u d e) Ma m an o f virtue in its suprem e form 广 B u t how shall one represent

yinde? I f yinde m eans acts o f kindness that are done wso unobtrusively that none bur the doer know s o f them /’ as Y u claims, then h ow did Q i learn o f Y u s deeds? In the specific context o f the Y u Y u d e narrative, M r, Q i is not a substitute for the om niscient narrator or G o d , who know s truths inacces­ sible to us. N o r does Y u acr secretly, as the term yinde w ould require. A s we are told, although Y u declines any repaym ent from the peasant, he does disclose his name to him and tell him where he lives. T h e best w ay o f de­ scribing Y u s yinde is perhaps, as W u Jin g zi did here, to let others use this

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term in describing the deed, and to m ake Y u deny its appropriateness. Y u s denial does not necessarily disqualify him for Q is acclaim, bu t it does have the function o f relieving him o f the burden o f proving h im self truly u p to the all- too-dem anding criteria o f yinde. It reveals that Y u is probably un­ aware of, and certainly does not anticipate, such a perception o f his ow n deed: in helping the desperate, suicidal peasant, he m erely does w hat he is supposed to do w ith out conscious striving, as i f he were acting in the ritual over w hich he h im se lf presides. W u Jin g z is account o f the Y u Y ude story presupposes the existence o f a hom ogeneous w orld o f ritual in w hich everyone know s his place, when to act: and w hen to give way. In order to secure its inrernal coherence, W u pre­ vented Y u from seeing the contradictions others do; Y u alw ays acts *nacurally," and as show n above, he crosses all the artificial distinctions w ithout necessarily disturbing the harm ony o f the ritualized w orld. T h e ethic o f yielding is inherently unstable; it is predicated on a w orld o f im perfection, in w hich one choice is often made at the cost o f other obligations, and thus it is far from perfect. Even in the "purified" form o f the T a ib o m yth, T a ib o re­ fuses his proper public role and acts on a private ethical decision. W u Jin g z is account o f Y u Y u d e, how ever, tries to contain or stabilize T a ib o s private ethic by turning it into an institutionalized act o f ritual. A n d the rit­ ual so conceived reflects a utopian urge to restore hom ogeneity w here it has been savaged by difFerenciation and irony_ an effort to efface all traces o f contradiction by presenting deliberate hum an deeds in term s o f natural reac­ tion. In a narrative w orld fraught w ith perspectivism , such an effort becom es as contrived as a failed ideology. Envisaging the essence o f a ritual life as pure appearance freed from the schem a o f m undane forces, m oral and p sych o­ logical conflicts, and agonizing am biguities, W u Jin g zi m ade a m ythological claim that can rarely be realized in any concrete narrative.

Temple, Island, and Stage In C h ap ter 37, the T a ib o temple, the sym bol o f the ritualized w orld, is set in N an jin g, the center o f the literati com m unity, as opposed to Beijing, the cencer o f che official world. A s I argued above, the cerem ony dedicated to W u T a ib o is not predicated on a specific sociopolitical occasion o r related to o f ­ ficial institutions or organizations; it is deliberately rem oved from the m u n ­ dane w orld. T h is strategy o f decontextualizarion operates on the narrative level as well. In the same chapter, the adoption o f the form o f the ritual

26 6

T H E TAI BO MYTH AND ITS DILEMMA

m anual helps to create a self-contained unit o f narrative tim e and space and separates the ritual scene from the context o f the novel T h is effort to decontextualize the temple is counterbalanced, however, by ju s t as strong an im pulse tow ard conrextualizing it. In the m iddle o f the novel are tw o other sites, Z h u a n g Shaoguang's island and D u S h en q in gs stage (for the perform ance contest), each o f which m akes an interesting par­ allel w ith the tem ple and illum inates certain aspects o f ir. T o interpret the tem ple, we should see it not m erely as it contrasts wich the court, but as it resem bles the island and the stage. T h e episodes about the island and the stage reveal the narrative com plexity o f the n ovels rendering o f the T a ib o cerem ony and the ritualized world. In C h apter 35, Z h u a n g Shaoguang, w ho is becom ing tired o f greeting alt the local officials w ho com e to congratulate him on w inning im perial favor, decides to move to Y u a n w u Lake as an escape. This was a huge lake, almost

large as the West Lake in Hangzhou. From the wall

on its left you could see Cockcrow Temple. Thousands o f bushels o f warer chest­ nuts, lotus roots, lotus seeds, and caltrops were produced here every year; and there were seventy-two fishing boats, which every morning supplied the whole city with fish. Four o f the five big islands in the lake were fitted with libraries; and the one in the middle, with its immense garden and house containing dozens o f rooms, became Zhuangs home. In the garden were old trees, their trunks thicker than a man could encircle with his arms; and with plum, peach, pear, plantain, cassia, and chiysanthemums, there were flowers at every season. There was also a grove o f tens o f thou­ sands o f bamboos. Zhuangs house had large windows on every side from which he could enjoy the lakeside scenery, as enchanting as fairyland A boat was moored at his gate, and to visit any of the other islands he had simply to ferry across; but with­ out this boat, noc a soul could reach him. In this garden, then, Zhuang lived. (R. 486; S, 393) T h e island where Z h u a n g lives is described as a garden, a fairyland, a w orld o f nature, w hich, like che T a ib o temple, is far rem oved from the w orld. T h e island and the tem ple are tw o o f the few sites that w arrant such depiction throughout the novel, and the parallels between the tw o are fascinating: they are both insulated from the contam ination o f w orldly clam or and restlessness. O n this island Z h u a n g enjoys real and imagined freedom from all social restrictions, and no one, it w ould seem, can inter­ fere: "W ith o u t this boat, not a soul could reach him .” T h e n a rrato rs em ­ phasis on Z h u a n g s inaccessibility anticipates the tem ples location beyond

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the surrounding w orld: the device o f decontextualization is once again put to use. I f the literati's w ithdraw al from the official w orld sets che stage for their enactm ent o f the cerem ony and evokes a utopian vision o f a ritualized hum an com m unity, Z h u a n g 's retreat to the island enables-him to go be­ yond the hum an w orld altogether. O ne o f his visitors com m ents, "Y o u are living like an im m ortal— how I envy you!” MW e are com pletely cut o f f from the w orld here,” replies Z h u an g, "A lth ough this is not Peach B lossom Sp rin g, it com es very close to it. I hope you will pay us a lon g visit, for next tim e you m ay not be able to find the w ayw (R. 486; S. 393-94 ). In the last sentence o f this passage, Z h u a n g alludes to "A n A ccou n t o f Peach B lossom Sp rin g" by T a o Yuanm ing, in which the visitor gets lost trying to find his w ay back to the fairyland. T h e narrator wastes no tim e show ing h ow Z h u a n g enjoys the view o f the lake. "H o w lovely the lake and m ountains look!" he says one day w ith a smile to his w ife, as they lean over the balcony to watch the w ater. "A n d all this is ours (zhexie buguang shanse doushi womende le)! W e can enjoy ourselves here every day, unlike D u Shaoqing, w ho has to take his wife to Q ingliang M oun tain to see the blossom s!” ( R . 斗86; S, 393 ),B y claim ing "all this is ou rs/’ Z h u a n g is not alluding to the recurrent poetic view o f landscape in tradi­ tional Chinese Hterarure as open to everyone w ith the aesthetic sensibility to appreciate its beauty.6 Su ch a view is reflected in D u Shaoqing's excursion w ith his w ife in C h apter 33, which Z h u a n g refers to here. Z h u a n g means lit­ erally w h at he says: he is m aking an exclusive claim to the territory, and he is the owner, as he duly rem inds his wife, o f the lake and island.7 Z h u a n g 's claim to ow nership is, however, ironically set w ithin the net­ w o rk o f correspondences and echoes in the novel; ir rem inds us o f the state­ m ent thar Fan Jin ’s m other makes in C h apter 3. A fte r Fan Jin passes the

6. For instance, in "Song of Xian^ang," Li Bai (701-62) wrote: "Enjoying the pure breeze and the bright moon does not cost me a singe penny" (Zhan Ying, Li Bai quanjijiaozhu huishi jipittg, pp. 973-84), Su Shi (1037-1101) elaborated this point in bis well-known "At Red Cliffis (I)" ("Qian Chibi fu"): "Between Heaven and Earth everything has its own owner; if it is not mine, I would not take it, no matter how small it is. Only the pure breeze across the river and the b ri^it moon between the mountairu: my ears take the one and make it sound; my eyes encounter the other and turn it inco color. I can take them without prohibition and use them without depletion. These come from the inexhaustible storehouse of the Creator that both you and I can enjoy* (Kong Fanli, Su Shi wenji, pp. 5-7). 7. For the study of the concept of possessing nature in Tang dynasty poetry, see Owen, T h t End of tbe Chinese "Middle A^cs," pp. 12-33.

T H E TAI BO MYTH A N D IT S DILEMMA

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provincial exam ination, his household is crowded w ith visitors and overflow : ing w ith gifts. Fan Jin 's m other, w ho has not yet fully com prehended .her so n s sudden success, has the follow ing conversation w ith her m'aids as they are busy w ashing the bowls, cups, and plates: "You must be very careful," the old lady warned them. "THese things dont belong to us, so don't break them." "H ow can you say they don’t belong to you, madam?" they asked. *The^ arc dl yours." -/"No, no, these areri'c ours," she protested with a smile. ^ "Oh yes, they are,” the maids cried. "N ot only these things, but all o f us servants and this house belong to you." When the old lady heard this, she picked up the fine porcelain and the cups and chopsticks inlaid with silver, and examined them carefully one by one. Then she went into a fit of laughter. "All this is mine (zfre doushi wode Ic)!" she crowed* Scream­ ing with laughter she fell backward, choked, and lost consciousness. (R. 49-50; S, 39) Such farcical scenes and the characters' discourse o f possessibni and ow ner­ sh ip fill the first th irty chapters o f the novel. In fact, the burning desire to grasp and possess becom es the driving force chat m otivates characters. In an entirely different context, Z h u a n g 's statem ent that "all this is ours" recap­ tures the theme o f these conversations, and his m ockeiy o f the D u s' tour lends itself to irony. Z h u a n g is not exactly accurate in claim ing the lake and island, for the em peror grants them to him ; he is their ultim ate owner, not Z h u a n g . In fact, by rew arding Z h u a n g w ith an im perial estate, the em peror stakes his claim on him as a state-sponsored herm it. Z h u a n g s sense o f autonom y is, there­ fore, an illusion; ic is im m ediately called into question, as an intruder in the garden precipitates a series o f unanticipated events. Before Z h u a n g can fin­ ish his banquet, a servant reports that hundreds o f governm ent troops have seized all the boats so that no one can escape from the island and have sur­ rounded the garden. A s it turns out, Z h u a n g s visitor is charged b y rhe au­ thorities w ith possessing a copy o f a forbidden book. T h e intrusion o f the official troops awakens Z h u a n g from his dream o f fairyland; it rem inds him o f rhe im perial claim to the garden, as well as his ow n subordinate relation­ ship to tHe authorities. In his conversation w ith the general com m anding the troops, Z h u a n g resum es his norm ative role in society; he dem onstrates his com petence and skill in dealing w ith delicate political affairs, .and his per­ sonal association w ith the em peror and court officials m akes a great differ­

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ence. A fte r the troops leave, Z h u a n g asks his guest to report to the auth ori­ ties and then m obilizes all his political resources to plead for his release. A l­ though the guest eventually returns to the garden, che image o f the garden as an autonom ous sphere is shattered, and Z h u a n g s connections w ith the ou t­ side w orld are laid bare, despite all his efforts to conceal them. Z h u a n g is a key character in the T a ib o cerem o n y and his experience on the island offers an im plicit com m ent on the literatis striving co create for them selves the vision o f a ritualized w o rld — autonom y o f a different order. T h e intrusion o f the outside w orld on his island anticipates w hat occurs later at the cemple in C h apter 5 $ _ an even m ore outrageous intrusion o f the m undane into a sacred space, w hich has by then been reduced to ruin. T h e episode also show s that despite his declining o f the im perial offer Z h u a n g is still im plicated in a relationship w ith the official w orld. T h e same is also true o f oth er celebrants o f the T a ib o cerem ony. I f Z h u a n g tells a fairy tale about his island, he and his literati friends conjure up a sim ilar tale about their ideal tem ple. T h e literati w ho appear in the tem ple are detached from the center o f the official w orld, and the ritual they practice breaks w ith the logic o f pow er and status chat governs che realm o f sociopolitical affairs. B ut the tem ple is on ly tem porarily transform ed by the cerem ony into a ritualized w orld. A n d for most, o f the participants, their self-proclaim ed detachm ent from the outside w orld is itself perform ative; it lasts no longer than required by the theatrical presentation. T h is leads us co the perform ative nature o f the cerem ony. T h e T a ib o tem ple provides the lirerati w ith a stage on which to carry out their ritual in full public view, w ith m om ents o f theatrical flair. D u rin g the perform ance, the tem ple is surrounded by hundreds o f spectators. W itn ess the scene as the celebrants leave the tem ple after the cerem o n y Their path was lined with people who had brought their old folk and children to throng the temple and watch. They were crying out for joy. "W hat makes you so pleased?" asked M a Chunshang with a smile. "W e are Nanjing-born and Nanjingbred," chey [zhottgren, literally, "the mukitude”] replied, "and some o f us are over sev­ enty or eighty. But we have never seen a ceremony like this, or heard music like this before! Th e old folk said the gentleman who was the master o f sacrifice is a divine sage who has come back to the earth; so we all wanted to see him.” (H. 510-11; S. 413) T h e response is from the crowd, instead o f particular individuals; they are absorbed into the collective identity o f the audience: "W e ware N an jin g-b orn and N anjing-bred , and som e are already over seventy or eighty. S till, ww eM

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are the young, for Mw e” are told by "the old folk" that the m aster o f sacrifice is a sage. In this w ay, "w e" voice a collective, uniform response from the entire audience o f the ritual perform ance, which demands an echoing response from us, che readers. T h e re is no theater i f there is no audience. In this scene, the tem ple is transform ed into a cheater, w ith the audience cheering in cho­ rus as the actors step o f f the stage. T h e theatricality o f this scene becomes even m ore evident when read against the dram atic perform ance staged in C h apter 30. B efore Z h u a n g Shaoguang, C h i H en gsh an, and D u Shaoqin g initiate the T a ib o cerem ony, D u Shenqing organizes a dram atic perform ance contest, which anticipates, in som e im portant aspects, the perform ance o f the cerem ony. L ik e the cere­ m ony, the contest is held outside N anjing's walls. T o enhance the theatrical effect, D u Shenq ing sets the stage in a pavilion in the m iddle o f the wellknow n C arefree L ake (M och ou hu). W hen the actors had finished their meal, they put on their costumes and makeup. They were all wearing brand-new headdresses and jackets. One by one they crossed the bridge and walked across the pavilion while Du (Shenqing) and Ji (Wcixiao), who had paper and brushes concealed in their hands, made notes. Soon the feast was served, and music sounded as the first actor ascended the stage. One acted “The Feast," another T h e Drunken Singer/ yet others “Borrowing Tea" or "Killing the Tiger." N o two scenes were the same. W ang Liuge presented "The N un Lon 泛 for Earthly Pleasures," W hen night fell hundreds o f lamps were lie, high and low, mak­ ing everything as bright as day, Arvd the melodious singing lingered in the air. Rich

yamen officials, merchants, and shopkeepers in the city, hearing o f the contest, hired fishing boats, Hxed up awnings and hung up lanterns, then had themselves rowed to the middle o f the lake to watch. When they were pleased, they applauded and cheered. This went on till dawn, by which time the dcy gates were open and they went home, (R. 416; S. 334) A lo n g with hundreds o f lamps and lanterns, the audiences applause and cheers in response ro the perform ance on the pavilion transform the d ark­ ness and silence o f the lake into a splendid theatrical scene. T h is brings to a clim ax 2 series o f gatherings in earlier chapters, especially the banquet at O riole T h ro a t Lake at w hich the L o u brothers serve as the hosts for Y a n g Z h iz h o n g , Q uan W u yo n g, Iro n -A rm ed Z h an g, and others.8 In turn, it an-

8* The bdtiquer scene, aJrhough on a much smaller scale and with less magnificence, is nevertheless rendered with the same touch of theatricality: "The cabin windows on both sides were opened so that they could hear music from rhe small boars as they drifted toward the

M oral Imagination and Sdf-Rejlexivity

zyi

ticipates the T a ib o cerem ony, an even m ore m agnificent perform ative event, and predisposes readers to see thac scene in a sim ilar lighr. Indeed, the T a ib o cerem ony is fram ed and regularly punctuated by the perform ance o f m usic and dance. A s in dram atic perform ance, the practice o f the cerem ony involves fifty m usicians and dancing boys; it is orchestrated b y B ao T in g x i, the ow ner o f a local troupe, w ho was also a key organizer o f D u S h en q in g s contest. In a m ore general sense, the presence o f the audience turns all the partici­ pants in the cerem ony into actors, and this is especially true o f Y u Y u d e. T h e audience throngs to the tem ple to see him , a divine sage returned to the hum an w orld for this specific purpose. D u Shenqing, w ho organizes the contest, is not h im self an actor, but his role as ju dge and organizer w ins him as m uch fam e as Y u Y ud e, C h apter 30 ends w ith the narrator's com m ents: “Since then . . . the fam e o f the seventeenth M r. D u [D u Shenqing] has shaken the regions south o f Y a n g z i R iver (Jiangn an )" (R. 417; S. 335). A s a ju d ge o f the contest, D u Sh en q in g has the results posted outside W e st W a ­ ter G ate, and thac leads to several days o f celebration for the prize-w inning actors. In sim ilar feshion, the nam es o f all the ritual participants are posted on the w all o f the T a ib o tem ple: the last dram atic display, which invites such belated visitors as W a n g Y u h u i to im agine the irretrievable m om ent o f the perform ance. A lth o u gh seven chapters apart, the tw o events are ju xtaposed in the m em ory o f the latecomers as testim ony to the vanished glories o f N anjing's past.9 H ow ever, w ith its ironic tone, the D u Shenqing episode challenges us

lake. A nd presently a feast was spread and a dozen servants in wide gowns and tall caps poured wine and served the dishes. It goes without saying that the food was rare, the wine and tea were fragrant, and they drank till the moon was up. T hen fifty or sixty lanterns were lit on the small boats and were reflected with the moonlight in the water, making it as bright as day. T h e music sounded even more clearly in the stillness, its strains echoing for miles around, so that watchers on shore stared at the revelers as i f they were itnmortaU, and none but envied them. T h u s they boated all night" (R. 179; S. 141-4 2). One o f the differences be­ tween the theater scene and the banquet scene is that the latter turns the brothers and his guests into objects o f observation and their boat into a moving stage drifting in the middle o f the lake. N o t unlike the actors in the dramatic performance at Carefree Lake, [he brothers and their guests put on their own show, with Commoner N iu chanting poems, Iron-Arm ed Z han g performing his sword dance, and Chen H cfu cracking jokes.

9.

See the conversation between Chen M unan and the ninth M r. X u in Chapter 53. Both

complain about the deterioration o f N anjing culture. But unlike X u , who believes that even the actors o f the day are inferior to those o f D u Shenqing's time, Chen blames Du Shenqing

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to consider the relationship between ritual and theater* Is the T a ib o cerem ony as represented by W u Jin g zi m erely an alternative form o f theatrical performance^ Is the ritual nothing m ore than a theatrical spectacle, a dram a o f rolerplaying, a sensational event that has no lasting im pact on the real world? Essential ro the theatrical presentation o f the ritual is, indeed, the issue o f performance* Even Y a n Y u a n w as often confronted by critics w ho saw ritual practice as a perform ance by actors* Y an Y u an 's response was straigh tfor­ ward: the reason we are in such deplorable straits is precisely because we are not as good as actors- T h e actors keep practicing at ordi­ nary times, and thus they are able to act, move their hands and feet as prescribed w ithout making any slips* Literati (sfci) read books the whole day long w ith their hands in their sleeves. T hey are completely ar a loss when th e occasion for action comes* H o w can they be asham ed o f perform ing rituals? H e cited the exam ple o f C onfucius and his disciples practicing rituals under the apricot tree and concludes: "Sin ce literati have becom e asham ed o f per­ form ing rituals, the w orld has been degenerating day by day/' In response to the question, “I f you engage in the practice o f rituals, w hat will you do i f people consider you as behaving affectedly (naqiangzuoshi)?r, Y ^n Y u a n said: W h y should you avoid behaving affectedly? *, * Assume a tone o f ritual and pro p ri­ ety, th en there will be reverence. Perform the dance o f Shao, th en there will be h ar­ m o n y T h e Confucian scholars o f previous times neglected the form o f rituals alto­ gether* T his is why rituals and music have all been lose*10 Y a n Y u a n seems to have focused entirely on the dichotom y o f practice and discourse and concluded that ritual propriety can be dem onstrated only in concrete practice. T h erefore, although he adm itted the analogy between rit­ ual and theatrical perform ance, he did not explore irs dubious im plications and consequences* In fact, he never even troubled h im self w ith questions about role-playing and the desire that m otivates perform ance; nor did he discuss potential gaps between form and content and between action and m otivation in the practice o f ritual.

for actors' audacious transgression of their social roles. It is interesting co note, however, that in Chapter 46 the farewell party to Yu Yude involves the prize-winning actors as well as Bao Tingxi. 10* Yan Yuan, Yan Yuanji, pp* 632, 665*

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A s I argued above, W u Jin g z is representation o f the T a ib o cerem ony closely illustrates Y a n Y u an 's approach to Con fucian ritual by focusing exclusively on its external form . H ow ever, the ju xtaposition w ith D u Shenqing’s contest for actors does expose the ritual participants to all che poten­ tial problem s o f theater— role-playing, im personation, self-invention, and insincerity— behaviors and craics chat figure prom inently in Rulin waishi. W u Jin g z i saw actors ironically: except perhaps for B ao W en qin g, all o f them are portrayed as professional im postors w h o transgress the boundaries o f gender and social class and, m ore often than not, confuse theatrical illu­ sion w ith reality. W earin g the costum es o f the cheater on public occasions, they pretend to be the dram atic roles they perform onstage and m ix with m em bers o f the elite class .with no qualm s o f conscience. B u t their capacity fo r theatrical perform ance both on- and offstage seem s to capture the core o f the literatis lives and m entalities. L ik e the actors, literati characters are driven by rhe desire to acquire a leading role and im agined glory; they manage to recast their identity and change their status through the civil service exam inations, im personation, and dram atic self-representation. Indeed, the candidates for the civil service exam inations, in telling stories about their ow n life, often project themselves into a scenario in w hich they w in personal favor from the em peror and highranking officials and, by rhis means, replace reality w ith a m uch m ore desir­ able fantasy. A n d no less frequently do obscure young m en make a nam e for themselves overnighr through im personation and plagiarism. A m aster o f self-reinvention, D u Shenqing is perhaps the best actor: after having m arried a concubine in che nam e o f fulfilling his filial duty, he devel­ ops a new interest in actors, w h o are them selves fem ale im personators. Even though he is a poet, one o f che mingshi w ho often define themselves against the vulgar exam ination candidates, he passes the civil service exam inations and becom es the only mirtgshi in the novel wich an official degree and title. In the D u Shenqing episode, W u Jin g zi blurred the line dividing the tw o groups o f professional actors— those w ho perform on the theatrical stage and those w h o perform on the social and political stage. It w ould be far-fetched, however, to take the account o f the T a ib o cere­ m ony as part o f the general trend tow ard theatricalizacion in the literatis lives w ith ou t exam ining its rhetoric and them atic agenda carefully. In its ex­ clusive focus on the external form o f repetitive ritual activity, che passage seems deliberately dry and thus lacks the dram a we associate w ith theatrical

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perform ance. O n the rhetorical level, W u Jin gzi did, therefore, m anage to distinguish che T a ib o cerem ony from other theatrical and cerem onial obser­ vances. T o quote M arsto n A nd erson: "It m ay not be too m uch to suggest that the passage is intended as the te x ts rhetorical degree zero: through it the narrator, by draining his style o f all contam inating rhetorical flourishes, strives to attain an authenticity o f voice corresponding to the psychological state thar the ritual ideally produces in its participants.” I w ould argue, h ow ­ ever, thar W u Jingzi's deploym ent o f this rhetorical strategy has m ore to do w ith his attem pt to contain desire and role-playing. T h e perform ance o f the T a ib o cerem ony, as W u portrayed it, has a psychologically neutral effect on the ritual participants; or, rather, ir absorbs them into a utopian vision o f ritualized perform ance w ith out evoking their theatrical im pulses and desires for role-playing. H ere A n d erson refers ro X u n z i’s idea o f the m ediating pow er o f ritual: Desire and memory are, in his view, unavoidable natural impulses, which can never be eradicated but may be beneficially displaced onto the rites themselves. It is thus en­ tirely fitting that in R«Iin waishi the rites should become the eventual focus for the multifarious desires that propel tKe plot line o f the first half o f the novel; through ritual, desire is transformed into a kind o f utopianism, or at lease a kind o f moral re­ formism. T h ro u g h such a transform ation, A nderson argues thac the T a ib o cerem ony "has brought not only the celebrants but the entire com m unity into a re­ new ed relationship w ith the ancient sages/'11 In response to A n d erson ’s insigheful reading o f the T a ib o episode, I ar­ gue, first o f all, thac in evoking the ucopian vision o f the ritual w orld, W u Jin g z i deployed rhetorical devices and conceptual schem es that contribute to the m aking o f a fiction. In place o f the literatis self-dram atization and self-invention, he conjured up a collective ritual perform ance o f self-renewal. Instead o f dispensing w ith role-playing, he insisted that everyone perform his proper role in accordance wirh the ritual codes. Su ch role-playing is purged o f choice, com petition, and social m obility and becom es entirely stagnant and repetitive. W h atever theatrical flair rem ains is subdued. T h e success o f this ritualized dram a depends not on its participants' authentic­ ity b u t on the perfect m atching o f nam e and reality through form ulaic p er­ form ance.

ii. Anderson, "The Scorpion in the Scholars Cap," pp. 272-73.

Moral Imagination and Self-Rcjlexivity

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H ow ever, ultim ately this ritualized role-playing is possible only w ithin the im agined ritualized world, because the roles so defined are devoid o f spe­ cific sociopolitical connotations and thus deprived o f che specificity and co n ­ creteness chat w ould give them a sense o f reality. In ocher w ords, it w ou ld be im possible ro re-enact the ritual in the real w orld w ith out radically reinter­ preting its codes. T h e fictionality o f this ritualized w orld is reflected in the generic situation o f C h apter 37. A s show n in P art I o f this book, che status o f the, ritual representation as a piece o f w riting inserted into the narrative from w ith ou t is confirm ed by W a n g Y u h u is reading o f th e yizhu on the w all o f the tem ple: as praxis becomes magic, prescription is translated into de­ scription. T h e ritual scenes alienation from its im m ediate context does not render it im m une co concextualization. O nce the ghost o f perspectivism has been evoked, it becom es im possible to control it, even i f one tries. It m ay be d iffi­ cult to answ er the question o f w hat, after all, differentiates Y u Y u d e, m aster o f the cerem ony, from his counterpart, D u Shenqing, in the acting contest. I f D u Shenqing constantly shifts his roles in public and private life, so does Y u Y u d e, w ho, as I show above, defies all the norm ative distinctions and b e­ com es both a palace graduate and the m odern W u T a ib o . T h e difference between them m ay lie in the fact that Y u Y u d e ’s virtue is guaranteed by W u Jin g zi’s narrator; we are told that in deciding to take the civil service exam i­ nations and accept the role o f m aster o f the T a ib o cerem ony, he is devoid o f im proper m otivations and desires. T h u s, despite the sim ilarities between his actions and D u Sh en q in gs, Y u is said to be acting appropriately and avoid­ ing rhe sinister inconsistencies that D u com m its. T h e danger is that once again, as in narrative ritual, virtue or m oral ju dgm en t becom es a m atter o f perception and inrerprecadon. It is undeniable rhat W u Jin g zi s adoption o f the form s o f biography and the ritual m anual secures Y u a separate, privileged space for natural actions and genuine feelings, som ething im possible fo r orher characters. B u t these form s are not entirely effective in inoculating Y u against irony. N o t only does the n arrators occasional resort to the authoritative voice o f the story­ teller beg rhe question, but his endorsem ent o f Y u s status as a reincarnated sage in the collective, anonym ous voice o f the cerem onial audience sounds hopelessly ironical. Even the T a ib o cerem onj,, w hose purity is inherent in the canonical form o f ritual m anuals in w hich it is represented, is not com ­ pletely im m une to contam ination by the th eam caliiy thar perm eates the

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dram atic perform ance in C h ap ter 30. It is already subjected to scrutiny through the subtle devices o f contrast and correspondence before its advo­ cates try to translate— unsuccessfully 一 its vision into the concrete praxis o f the everyday in the ensuing part o f the novel. C h en g T in gzu o , one o f W u Jin g z is close friends in N anjing, once criti­ cized W u Jin g zi and Fan Shengm o for their fascination w ith theatricality in their reform o f C o nfu cian ritual. In his letters to Fan, C h en g took issue with a m ourning ritual rhat Fan and W u designed for a certain T a n fam ily in N an jin g. H e argued that the ancient m ourning rituals had no m usic. B y in­ corporating music, Fan and W u had turned a Confucian fam ily ritual into a theatrical perform ance (liyuan zhi banyan) or B uddhist and D ao ist ritual

(Seng Dao zhi jing jiao), w hich involve m usic and dram atic spectacle, C heng T in g z u o also criticized W u Jin g z is use o f his own lyrics, m odeled on "DazhacT (G re a t sum m ons) o f the Sort炉 of Chu (Chuci), in the m ourning ritual for being a 'p layfu l approxim ation” (y ijin y o u x t).12 Since the T a ib o ceremony goes beyond the level o f fam ily rituals in both function and presentation, C h en g’s criticism does not apply directly to Rulin waishi. Y e t, given the evi­ dent sim ilarities in che representation o f dram atic perform ance and the cerem ony in C h apters 30 and 37, C heng's concern with theatricality m ay not be entirely irrelevant. Interestingly enough, Z h u a n g Shaoguang, the charac­ ter m odeled on C h en g T in gzu o , plays an im portant role in the T a ib o cere­ m o n y w hose theatricality m ight have provoked C h e n g s disapp roval T o conclude m y reading o f W u Jin g z is reflective narrative o f the T a ib o tem ple, I w ill situate it in the M in g and Q in g literatis accounts o f tem ple re­ construction projects. A longside a grow ing num ber o f appeals on b eh alf o f T a ib o worship, w e often find seem ingly incongruous reports: the T a ib o tem ple was dilapidaced from years o f neglect, or m ost o f the ancient pines in the courtyard had been cut down and used for firewood by local residents. Likew ise, the T a ib o tom b had been left untended and had. been tram pled on by herdsm en who neither knew nor cared w h o T a ib o w as.13 T h e best exam ­ ple o f this kind o f record can be found in Taibo M ali zhi com piled by W u X i in 1898. In it, the history o f the T a ib o temple and tom b is portrayed as a

12. According to Cheng Tingzuo, W u Jingzi composed a poem on the model of "Dazhao** and then used it in the mourning rituals to recall the soul of the dead. Cheng criticized W u for both misreading "Dazhao" and deviating from che tradition of Confucian rituals. See Cheng Tingzuo, Qin^xi wenjijubian,juan 4, pp. 8-12. 13. W u Xingzhuo in W u Xi, Taibo Meili zhi, juan 4, p. nb.

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277

constant struggle o f reconstruction and preservation. L ocal literati’s accounts o f the stone stele dedicated to T a ib o , w hich are quoted verbatim in Taibo Meili zhi, always begin w ith lam ents over the ruins o f the temple and tom b. T h e lam ents prom pt them to make che effort co rebuild. B u t once com plete, their reconstructed temple and tom b are equally subject to the erosion o f tim e and are reduced again to ruin. T h is cycle o f reconstruction and destruction occasionally takes on an ironic noce between the main rexr and the annotations in Taibo Meili zhi. In one place the text relates the official effort to m aintain a rescricced area around the T a ib o tom b in M eili, B u t a note by the editors adds, perhaps un­ intentionally, an ironic tw ist. S o o n after the erection o f the stone stele that bore the official prohibitions, the village children invented a new game. T h e y were interested n o t in the inscription but in the top o f rhe stone stele, which, as they discovered, w as hollow inside. T h e y often com peted to throw stones at it to entertain themselves w ith the tinkling sound. T h e ir frequent m isses h ad seriously dam aged the official inscription.14 W ith its chipped and largely unintelligible inscription, che official stele w as a message j^et to be delivered. T h is sm all episode recalls the ritual program posted on the w all o f the T a ib o temple, w hich is covered by years o f dust and is alm ost illegible to W a n g Y u h u i in C h ap ter 斗8 o f Rwim waishi. It also rem inds us o f C h ap ter 55 o f the novel, in which a num ber o f children, ignorant o f w ho T a ib o was, play in the open space before the ruins o f the T a ib o temple, while old ladies for­ age for w ild greens w ithin the courtyard. L ik e the episode in Taibo Meili zhi, these tw o scenes suggest the futility o f m aintaining the tem ple and the tom b in the face o f hum an destruction and the erosions o f time. T h ro u g h che project o f the T a ib o temple, W u Jin g zi constructed an event essential to his n o vels them atic design, but he was also aware o f the fictionality o f his ow n construction o f the temple and allowed it to fall apart. O nce the tem ple collapses, the novel, w hich sees no com pelling alternative, com es to an end. T h e story o f Rulin waishi turns out, therefore, to be one o f frustration, straddling the rise and fall o f che T a ib o cemple. T h e fate o f the tem ple suggests an allegorical account o f the novel itself: w hat is constructed in fiction is itself a fiction and ultim ately dwindles away into nothing.

14* Sec W u Xi, Taibo Meili zhtjuan 4, p* ib*

C onclusion

Rulin waishi is a literati novel driven b y conflicting impulses toward irony and the Confucian moral imagination. H o w it copes with the tensions between the two has been a primary focus for critics. It has been argued that should be read in terms o f satire or the Chinese satirical tradition A n d satire is a conservative genre in that "its moral norms," to quote, N orthrop Frye, "are relatively clear, and it assumes standards against which the grotesque and absurd are measured"1 Scholars often point out that Chapter i o f Rulin waishi serves to set up precisely such a moral standard against which to measure the absurdity ofliterari lives portrayed, especially in Part II (Chapters 2 through 30) o f the novel.2 According to them, Part III (Chapters 31 through 37) moves toward the tepresentation o f the "positive" characters such as Y u Yude, Zhuang Shaoguangi'and D u Shenqing, who are meant to live up to the cultural ideal represented in Chapter 1, and thar shift is marked by, among other things, the apparent diminishing, if noc absence, o f irony. T h is critical approach suggests that Rulin waishi is capable o f con­ taining irony and preventing it from destabilizing the novel's value system. It emphasizes Rulin waishi s need for such a system ro guide its social criricism; ultimately, W u Jingzi's moral vision makes his satire possible.

1. Fryc, Anatomy oj Criticism, p. 123. 2. This view o f Rutin waishi has been popular especially among the critics in China. For a similar argument in English, see Wong, Wu 0 }irtg~tzu.

2SO

THE TAIBO MYTH

AND

ITS DILEMMA

T h e questions are, of course: H o w could W u Jingzi effectively secure the unambiguous moral vision required by this interpretative model o f satire? Could he resort to the normative narrative, whose authority is questioned in Part II o f Rulin waishii A s shown above, W u Jing2i occasionally slipped into this mode o f narrative in an apparent attempt to renew Confucian norms. H is account o f Y u Yude takes the canonical form o f biography and utilizes the authoritative voice o f the conventional narrator ro convey the purity of Y u ’s intendon; indeed, W u Jingzi created an idealized fiction about Y us vir­ tue by placing him in a homogeneous world o f ritual untroubled by difFerentiation and perspectivism. However, as I have demonstrated, such a narrative approach cannot be taken very far; its effort to decontextualize the Y u Yude narrative does noc exclude irony entirely. Moreover, once virtue becomes a matter o f representation and interpretation, it is implicated in the crisis o f narrative ritual depicted in the previous part o f the novel. In other words, W u Jingzis occasional recourse to the canonical model o f representation ends up reiterating the problems o f literati discourse captured in Rulin waishi. It verges on self-parody. A careful reading of Part III o f the novel shows that the model o f satire is not easily applicable to the interpretation o f Rulitt waishi F o r one thing, the moral standard conjured up in Chapter i either does noc materialize subse­ quently or becomes obscured or compromised. A n d the characters, who supposedly adhere to this standard, are often subjected to questioning or trapped in a situation in which none o f the available choices is flawless. Ru/m waishi is conceived in the mode o f irony. So deeply does irony pene­ trate the core o f its narrative that: to endorse a new moral vision W u Jingzi apparently had no choice other than to diminish his reliance on narrative, if not to dispense wich it altogether. In fact, the effort to go beyond narrative is embedded in the very vision o f the ascetic ritual W u manages to create— a moral conviction that transcends narrative discourse and is to be translated into reality through the practice o f the ritual. W u Jingzi asserted T a ib o s vir­ tue by assuming a common belief in it and thus shielded it from interpreta­ tions and controversies. H is representation of the Taibo ceremony replicates the formulaic language o f the ritual manual and, like the ritua] manual, re­ duces narrative to a minimum. However, this approach cannot be taken very far: it either stretches itself too thin to sustain itself or collapses into its own antithesis by generating more verbal elaborations or alternative interpretations. W u Jingzi reinforced

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the sagehood o f W u Taibo by not fleshing ic out with concrete narrative, but as he rendered the motifs o f the Taibo myth in his accounts o f Y u Yude, Zh uan g Shaoguang, and D u Shaoqing, irony resurfaces, although not as ex­ plicitly as we often see in Part II o f the novel. T h e complexity o f W u s account is further predicated on the conflicts I discern in the narrative o f the Taibo myth, which is absent from the pages o f the novel. These conflicts are embedded in the tensions between different versions o f the myth (one portrays him as a Confucian paragon; another as someone who accs on the private ethics o f yielding at the expense o f public duties), between che myth and the ritual (the myth asserrs the absoluteness o f W u T a ib o s virtue, whereas the riruaJ consists o f an attempt to contain the private ethic o f yielding by translating it into an institutionalized behav­ ior pattern congenial to the public interaction o f the ritualized world), and ultimately, between che mythological claims and the controversial accounts o f Taibo (the former defy any concrete narrative; the latter constantly sub­ ject W u T aib os yielding o f the throne to "cont’extualizing*’ perspectives and thereby jeopardize the image the myth projects). W u Jingzis narrative in Part III o f the novel recapitulates almost all these conflicts: it asserts the literatis withdrawal from the mundane official world but at the same time sees the possibility o f interpreting the same action from alternative approaches. A nd the parallels between the representations o f the Taibo temple and Zhuang Shaoguangs island and D u Shenqing's theater further conrexru^lizes the temple, despite its apparent detachment from mundane activities. True, R«!in waishi's representation o f Filial G u o s journey is composed in the minimum narrative style. It eschews his internal world and utterances, but its weU-controlled surface is eventually roiled by G uo’s repressed emo­ tions and accumulated remorse. T h e same process is even more evident in the episode o f W an g Yuhui, for W a n g’s ritual leatis only to his emotional collapse, which is followed by His repeated retellings o f his daughters story as a miraculous morality play. T h e effort to equate writing with ritual leads nowhere. W u Jingzi self-consciously confronted ascetic rituals limits by subjecting it to the erosion o f emotion and words. In a more general sense, it is W u Jingzis narrarives o f the ritual absolut­ ists' behavior, as shown in the stories o f Filial Guo, W an g Yuhui, and the Y u brothers, that help reveal the inconsistencies and even contradictions otherwise difficult to discern in the design o f ascetic ritual* T h e distinction

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T H E TAIBO MYTH AND ITS DILEMMA

between the absolute ethics o f ascetic ritual and the "situational ethics" o f narrative ritual sometimes seems more hypothetical than real. Even an as­ cetic like W an g Yuhui is portrayed as acting on secret calculations and a de­ sire for rewards, and his behavior becomes no less hypocritical than that o f

mingshi, who pursue personal fame under the guise o f disinterest. Irony and perspectivism are rhe inevitable conditions o f

waishis narracivity, and

they make no exceptions for the ascetic ritual at stake in W u Jingzis moral vision. W u Jingzis representation o f ascetic ritual helps to define his fictional narrative as a mode o f critical discourse characterized by a relentless exami­ nation o f its own values and assumptions. I began Parr I V o f this book by elaborating the potential tension between Kuli'n waishi'& tendencies toward moral imagination and irony, and I shall conclude by saying that the novel is so thoroughly drenched in irony thac it does noc spare its own moral imagi­ nation from scrutiny;O r more precisely, its power o f moral imagination lies precisely in its capacity to reflect on its own intellectual sources and narrative choices. It is through such constant self-scrutiny that Rulin waishi engages in a full-scale criticism o f the cultural tradition in which it is deeply rooted. In the eighteenth century, the vernacular novel achieved a new sense o f intellectual engagement and gravity. A s a genre, it offered literati authors a forum in which to address their concerns and participate in ongoing intellec­ tual discourse. Rather than purveying the cliches o f common discourse as voiced by the conventional narrator o f earlier vernacular fiction, several ma­ jor novels o f the rime were intended as contributions to contemporary de­ bates: The Humble Words of an OU Rustic sets out to revive the authority o f Song Neo-Confucianism, Warning Lt^jt at the Crossroads underscores the importance o f the Confucian family regulations/ and Flowers in the Mirror, completed for the most part in the early part o f the nineteenth century, em­ braces the horizon o f literati learning opened by evidential philological stud­ ies. W ritten for literati readers and circulated among literati circles, these and other novels participate in an imagined community of intellectual dis­ course. Their role in the formation o f literati consciousness o f the time de­ serves further investigation.

3. In a study of Li Luyuan's novel Warning Li^ht at the Crossroads, Maram Epstein ("Ritual in the Eighteenth-Century Novel Qj/a D mg) elaborates its interest in ritualism and points out that several manuscript editions of the novel contain a set of household rules that the novelist had compiled. See also Martin Huang, "Xiaoshuo as "Family Instructions/

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For the purpose o f che present study, it suffices, however, to say that, like Rwiin waishi, most o f these literati novels are characterized by a moralizing zeal and an ironic edge. In Flowers in the Mirror, for example, its account o f the Country o f Gentlemen endorses the lofty virtue o f yielding or noncom­ petitiveness demonstrated by the descendants o f W u Taibo, but this does not prevent it from exposing the pretentiousness and perverseness o f that: virtue, when it is carried to its logical extremes and becomes, paradoxically, a competition to be noncompetitive. In this and other episodes, Li Ruzhen of­ fered a compelling allegorical version o f W u Jingzis ironic portrayal o f lite­ rati hypocrisy and perversion. However, Li was so thoroughly saturated in the wisdom o f the elite culture that he seems content wirh dropping witty insights rather than, like W u Jingzi, exploring the moral dilemmas o f lirerati choices. A nd Li certainly had little difficulty reconciling his moralizing and parodic tendencies as long as he remained blissfully enchanted with che to­ tality o f literati culcure, to which his novel gives a refined, witty expression. M ost literati writers o f the time still felt at home with their inherited cul­ ture, and that is why their sense o f irony rarely led to serious self­ questioning. Even The Humble Words, a Neo-Confucian fantasy, sometimes yields conscious irony, and there are moments when the author, despite his indulgence in moral fallacies, was clearly aware o f the fictionality o f his own work,4 but he identified so closely with W e n Suchen, the protagoriist--ra Confucian superman一 that he was utterly incapable o f integrating his forays o f wit into a consistent pattern o f self-reflection, let alone o f questioning the values at the core o f his own narrative. O f the literati novels o f the eighteenth century, only The Story oj the Stone is Rulin waishi's true intellectual equal. Despite striking differences in rheme and narrative style, it shares with K«Ii« waishi an adversarial stance toward the culture that runs through irs own narrative, and it is just as self-reflexive in rendering its account o f reality. In a sophisticated manner unprecedented in vernacular fiction, The Story of the Stone questions the validity o f name and word and frames its own narrative around che dialects o f truth and fiction. Rwlin waishi elaborates on similar issues but sets them in the sociopolitical realm without resorting co allegory: in Rulin waishi, the literatis impersona­ tion, plagiarism, empty rhetoric, and deceptive role-playing become the driv­ ing forces in shaping their own life and, in many cases, are taken for reality

4. For a discussion of this aspect of HumbU Words, see Huang, Literati and SelfRc/?resentation, pp. 109-36.

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itself. T h e question o f truth versus fiction leads both novels to reflect on their own meaning and to question the possibility o f their own fictional rep­ resentation. A nd nowhere else is this better illustrated than in the construc­ tion and ultimate dissolution o f the ideal temple in Rulin waishi and o f the utopian garden in The Story of the Stone. Although Rwiin waishi and.Tbc Story of the Stone address different subjects, they are equally vigorous not only in exploring literati culture but also in questioning their own choices, and their narratives unfold through a dy­ namic process o f intellectual inquiry and self-negation. Ruli/i waishi is con­ cerned primarily with literati decisions to serve or withdraw; The Story of the Stone elaborates on its protagonist Jia Baoyu's refusal to enter the adult world through the civil service examination and government service.



W hereas Rulin waishi reflects on elite-official mores and seeks alternatives from within the Confucian tradition, The Story of the Stone places no hope in Confucianism and searches instead for individual salvation through love, lyrical and theatrical enchantment, and ultimately, Daoist and Buddhist enlightenment. But after exhausting all the available cHoices, it ends in disil­ lusionment with the literati culture that permeates its own narrative. Rulin—

waishi does nor conclude on a more positive note. Its critical inquiry poses more questions than it answers, but its values lie in part in its capacity to question tHe culture to which it pledges allegiance.

EPILOGUE 丨Rulin

waishi a n d

Literati Nostalgia f o r the Lyrical W o r ld

Essential to Rulin u/aishi's representation o f lireraci degeneration and strug­ gles is the question o f how a literatus can live a meaningful life in a time o f disenchantment. M ore specifically, how can he gain a sense o f selffulfillment when he is alienated from the traditional sociopolitical roles o f the elite class? H o w can he create a "home/' to which he belongs and from which draws meaning when he feels so at odds with the »): I-J. he r-. V and inspiration, 1 official world and local society? RhIim waishi offered W u Jingzi a critical medium to illuminate the disaf­ fection o f the lireraci; it also constitutes his persona】journey in search o f a home. A t the end o f Chapter 56, the last chapter o f Rtiifrt waishi, is a song lyric with a nostalgic, autobiographical voice: "I remember that I left home in the old days for the love o f the Qinhuai River [in N a n jin g ].… " W u Jingzi left Anhui ar age thirty-two, because he no longer felt he belonged there, and settled in Nanjing for the rest o f his life. A narrative journey o f an intellecru^l quest under the sign o f hisrory, Rulin waishi concludes with this compel­ ling personal note, revealing not merely its autobiographical undercurrent but ics competing impulses, from self-exile to a consrant search and nostalgic longing for home. T h e longing stems from a sense o f alienation: in W u Jingzis account, no literatus succeeds in living a meaningful life as a member o f the local gentry, and the prescribed roles in family, lineage, and local community cease to be fulfilling, D u Shaoqing, who is weary o f his obligations to his lineage and

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feels only disgust toward his kinsmen, recapitulates W u s early trauma o f be­ ing victimized in a vicious dispute over an inheritance.1 Estranged from his own community, W u Jingzi had to seek a home somewhere else, but where exactly? I f his fictional alter ego finds no satisfaction in playing the role o f a local gentryman, most o f his other characters experience even greater disillu­ sionment with their official careers. M ore often than not, their lifelong slav­ ery to the civil service examinations drains their energy and imagination and leaves them in a permanent state o f mental poverty and moral, if not finan­ cial, bankruptcy. Underlying W u Jingzi s radical reimagining ofli is the motivating force o f the search for home 一 an attempt to bolster ethical relationships and anchor an individual life in a time o f uncertainty b y endowing it with the gravity o f meaning. A s did W u Jingzi himself, D u Shaoqing moves to Nanjing, where he creates for himself a "family* on the basis not o f blood ties but o f personal affinities, shared cultural interests, and a common commitment to the prac­ tice o f Confucian ritual. W u s representation o f the Nanjing circle is itself an event; it prepares the novel for the next stage o f action and presents, in a broader sense, an effort to construct a community in a metropolis for literati who have wandered away from their own local lineages and remain inde­ pendent from official institutions— an unconventional choke for establish­ ing literati affiliations. T h e Taibo ritual in Chapter 37 seals a mutual bond among its partici­ pants; its performance creates a moment o f suspension in which they raise themselves above the flux o f time and the clamor o f the mundane and thereby achieve unity and harmony, albeit temporarily, among themselves (the miscellaneous nature o f the participants suggests an occasion for recon­ ciliation and regeneration), as well as ah identification with the ancient focus o f their worship. Instead* o f being predicated on a specific sociopolitical situation, this collective ceremony inside the Taibo temple evokes the vision o f a transcendental home for the literati, who are constantly on the road wich no assured destination. A strong penchant fot moral reasoning drives W u Jingzis narrative o f the Confucian ritualized world, but ic also leads him into ethical dilemmas. T h e ceremonial harmony between the individual and the larger whole can hardly

1. At an early age, Wu Jingzi was adopted by his remote uncle Wu Linqi as the heir o f the family fortune and that drew him to the center of domestic dispute. For more information about this incident in the W u family, see Chen Meilin, W« Jingzi p'mgzhuan, pp. 59-89.

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replicate a formidably complex and intricate reality. T h e ritual journeys taken by Filial Guo and W ang Yuhui begin with positive agendas but go astray as they unfold. In these sections o f the novel, W u Jingzis narrative underscores the problems o f ritual practice without offering solutions: at­ tempting to implement the vision o f the transcendental home in real life resulcs in the disintegration o f chat vision and the demoralization, even de­ struction, o f those involved. Elaborating on the full magnitude o f these dilemmas, R«(i« waishi turns its journey o f moral and intellectual inquiries into a merciless scrutiny o f its own premises, values, and ethical reasoning. A s I argued above, it also offers a critical reflection on almost all existing modes of representation or expres­ sion (from the Confucian mythological claim to historiography to vernacular fiction) without sparing its own narrative from on equally rigorous examina­ tion. Th is relentless self-reflexivity_ a strong impulse against its own grain 一 brings no sense o f satisfaction and - settlement at the conclusion o f Ru/m waishu a novel so conceived is destined to be homeless. However, at those points ac which his ethical reasoning reached an im­ passe, W u Jingzi shifted gears to explore the alternatives offered by lyricism. There is in

waishi a subsidiary theme that does not entirely fit within

the ethical framework o f the novel I have so far delineated: a nostalgic long­ ing for a lyric vision o f life. T h e Epilogue examines this theme and its broader implications for understanding late imperial literati culture. A s I have argued, in the episodes o f the four plebeian loners in Chapter 55 o f Ruiin waishi, li undergoes a series o f fundamental transformations from rhe colJecrive to the individual, from the ethical to the aesthetic, and from action to meditation, and imagination. These changes hark back in part to the classical conceptualization o f i n Liji in terms o f "music without sound; ritual without form; and mourning ceremony without mourning clothes [that is, to mourn someone who is not ones kin]."2 A t the heart o f W u Jingzis final attempt to revitalize It lies an elevated lyric vision o f human ex­ perience that transcends the regulatory form o f institutions and thus re­ mains undisturbed by the deterioration o f external rules and distinctions. Tapping into rhe large reservoir o f literati culture, W u acknowledged a per­ sonal attachment to its lyric ideal, despite his constant questioning o f its ethical tenets and discursive mode. O r more precisely, his elaboration o f the

X Ste chap. 19 of Liji, in Lyi

51, p. 1617.

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breakdown o f the imaginary ritualistic communiry left lyricism as the only alternative w ay to envision a harmonic, meaningful totality o f life. It is not always easy to tell where ritualism withdraws and lyricism secs in. T h e lyric vision o f life does recapture the potentially poetic aspects o f the Taibo ceremony— homogeneity, self-containment, and the suspension o f time. T h a t vision, however, leads to revelations and a sensibility that are conspicuously absent from the all-too-rigid, mechanical, repetitive ritual scene. Tow ard the end o f his narrative journey in Rwim waishi, W u Jingzi sought to reassert the qualities essential to the lyric tradition— — genuine feel­ ing, a medicative mood, and a spontaneous yet total foundation in rhe unity o f man and nature— most prominently in his snapshots o f the private lives o f the four amateur artists in Chapter 55. Lyric experience is personal and transient, but it penetrated deeply into the literati's collective consciousness because o f the omnipresent influence o f lyric poetry in their life and their perception and articulation o f aesthetic values. It is beyond the scope o f this book to probe its cosmological and on­ tological implications, but clearly this lyric vision epitomizes the literatis cultural ideal in a nonphilosophical way, and its advent in Rulin waishi raises three interrelated issues. T h e first has to do with ethics, for the aesthetic problem, as it is understood in the context o f premodern, literati culture, is inseparable from human relations and the meaning o f the individual life. T h e questions we must ask are: W a s W u Jingzi proposing what might be called a poetic solution to ethical problems? Does that suggest anything other than a utopian urge— a doomed struggle to conjure up a way o f life that has vanished Forever, if it ever existed— or a reluctant retreat into the realm o f interiority and even fantasy? A second issue concerns the relationship between the vernacular novel and lyricism. A s shown earlier# Rulin waishi defines itself as a critical medium through which to reflect on the existing modes o f discourse, including its own. Driven by an impulse toward ruthless self-negation, it offers no meta­ phorical home to which the literati might entrust themselves; nor does it provide them with a source o f ultimate meaning1 and personal comfort in a time o f crisis. In fact, the novel is a work about the literatis moral and cul­ tural crises; it perceives reality to be fragmentary and meaningless, and its

3. For more on these copies, sec Li Zchou, Mei de lichengi and Li Zehou and Liu Gangji, Zbon^guo mtixuc shi. See also Chen Shih-hsiang, "On Chinese Lyrical Tradition"; Yu-kung Kao, "Chinese Lyric Aesthetics"; and Chang Shu^hsuiig, "Shuqing chuantong de bcnti yishi."

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adversarial stance toward the assumptions underlying its own narrative dis­ closes a new critical consciousness coming into play. H o w can lyricism claim a place within a novel so conceived, if it presupposes a homogeneous vision o f the world and solicits empathy, and even identification, with rhat vision? Indeed, how does the lyric voice funcrion when it is situated among other, conflicting voices? Can lyrical discourse survive within a form that erodes its autonomy and decentralizes, if not engulfs, its lofty vision? This question has ramifications for a third issue— rhe style of Rt/!m waishi W h en the lyrical consciousness enters the prose narrative o f

waishi, it

does not take the form o f monologue or poetry. W hether it is capable o f subduing the heterogeneous world o f the novel under its cohesive vision, it claims an artistic triumph by penetrating the mood, rhythm, and tone o f W u Jingzi s representation o f literati experience and thereby adds a new and different dimension o f sensibility to this novel, which is noted primarily for its ironic edge* This point deserves special attention in part because few, if any, subsequent novels in an ironic vein succeed in incorporating a l^ric mood and sensibility; in this regard, Ru/in waishi remains an unrivaled exam­ ple o f artistic experiment and achievement. In the second half o f Rulin waishi, we occasionally encounter moments o f lyrical flair, as shown in W u jingzis portrayal of Nanjing as the home o f the four commoners and D u Shaoqing, Despite his concise, minimalist style, W u s introduction of Nanjing in Chapter 24 achieves an exuberant poetic tone: The Qinhuai River, which flows through Nanjing, measures over three miles from the east to the west ford; when its water is high, painted barges carrying flutists and drummers play to and fro on it day and night* Within and without the city stand monasteries and temples with green tiles anci crimson roofs. During the Six Dynas­ ties there were 480 temples here, but now there must be at least 4,800! The streets and lanes house 600 or 700 taverns, large and small, and more than 1,000 teahouses* No matter whar small alley you enter, you are bound to see at least one house where a lantern is hung to show that tea is sold; znd inside the teahouse you will find fresh flowers and crysral-clear rainwater on the boil* These teahouses are always filled- A t dusk, bright horn lanterns hang from the taverns on both sides of the road, several thousand lanterns on each main street making the highways as bright zs dzy, so that passcrsby need not carry lanterns with them. Late zt night, when the moon is up, boats playing soft music glide up and down the Qinhuai, enchanting all who hear them with their clear, tender strains* Girls in the houses on both banks roll up their curtains and lean over the railings to listen quietly, dressed in light gauze and with

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BPILOCUE

jasmine Sowers in chdc hair. In fact, as soon as the drums sound in rhe lighted bows, screens are rotted up and windows opened on. both sides of the water, and the scent of the ambergris and sandalwood burm: in the houses here floats out to mingle with the moonlight and misr on che water, until you fancy yourself in paradise or fairyland. (K, 334-3 $;S. 170) Addressing its anonymous readers in che second person, this passage depicts N anjing in a personal voice rarely heard throughout the novel: it invites "you"* to perceive and experience the city the way it describes. Chained with a poignant sense o f personal attachment to the dtyv this intruding voice is, however, d^connectcd from any speaking subject. It is intimate, fresh, and bears no resemblance ro che storytellers voicej4 nor can it be attributed to any o f che novels proragonists, for at this point, no resident o f Nanjing has been presented. It is W u Jingzi, the implied narrator, who is speaking, yet, instead o f speaking for himself or in his own capacity (with a concrete physi­ cal presence or full-Ecdged interioriiy), he evokes the imagery and mood o f Nanjing from che inherited lyric repertoire and lays an absolute claim on his literati readers by articulacing an anonymous sentimenc: his rendering o f the spring scene o f Nanjing recalls D u M u ’s (8 0 3 -5 1) poems on Yangzhou, a nearby city, with their gentle spring breezes lingering in Yangzhou s long streets. T h e moon, which appears at the silent intervals o f W u ’s narrative, seems to have emerged from the depths o f cultural memories o f Nanjing as envisioned by Liu Yuxi (770 -8 42) almost one thousand years before*5

4- It is noteworthy rhat thii passage is devoid o f rht formulaic language (in the foims o f parallel prose and poem) that the simulaced storyteller usually uses m depicting scenes, »nd it it thus impossible to connect ks voice 10 th« conventional narrator o f the vernacular fiction. $. In a po«n "Parting, IF ("Zengbie") to his Woved courtesan in Yangzhou, Du Mu wrote, *Thc spring breeze is lingering in the ten-li' long street of Yangzhou, / raising ihe cur­ tain before the window, she beams with such splendid beaucy that no one can compare" (Qua» Tang shi, vol. t6, juan 523, p. 59SS), W u Jingzi recapturtd this posture o f raising the window curtain in hii scene of Nanjing's nightlife. In Chapter 41 ofRuiin waishi, tht narrators account o f a conversation between Du Shaoqing and Q u Hen炉 han is followed by %silent scene: "The new crescent moon, having risen from the Qinhuai River, is passing over the bridge.* This scene resonat« with rhe !ast rwo lines o f Uu Yuxi* poem "Fortress on the Rock" ("Shitou cheng*): the Huai Water's eucem edge, the moon of olden days, / in the dcptha o f night comes back, passing over the pirapcts" (j^wn Tongjhi, vol. 11. juan 36$, p. 4117). For forthet discussion of Liu Yuxi's poem and the way it shapes the imag^y and mood o f Nanjing in the literary* reprwentation o f later generations, see Ow«n, "Place: Meditation on the Past at Chin-Ling.*

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S o perceived and represented, Nanjing occupies a pivotal position in Rulin waishts geopolitical and cultural vision. I at^ied above that W u Jingzi secured its role as che center for the revival o f the Confucian ritual b y setting it in a binary contrast with Beijing, the political center o f the empire. T h is dichotomy o f temple and court, literati and court officials, is set beside an­ other contrast in which Nanjing embodies literati taste and sensibility in comparison with Hangzhou, crowded with philisrines, hypocrites, and shams-6 A c stake in this second dichotomy is the opposition between the po­ etic and che prosaic. Inhabited b y self-proclaimed poets and best known for the enchanting vistas o f W est Lake, Hangzhou, as it appears in jRuiiH waUhi, seems to have a lot to recommend it as a lyric site. In the novel, however, Hangzhou is a lo­ cus for irony— indeed, the Hangzhou episode is a story about: the death o f poetic consciousness rather than a lyrical paean co mens communion with nature. W u Jingzi deliberately alienated u$ from the long poetic tradition about W est Lake by forcing us to see the place through che eyes o f M a Chunshang. Culturally impoverished and incapable o f aesthetic sensibility, M a finds nothing appealing as he is carried by che incessant Sow o f a noisy crowd from one spot to another. Th is episode recalls the ironic opening statemcnr in *W est Lake on the Fifteench N igh t o f the Sevenrh M onth" (“X ih u qiyue ban-) by Zhang Dai (i597-i6 7^ )> an essayist o f che lace M ing and che early Qing: "O n the fifteenth night of the seventh month, there was nothing to see at W est Lake except the people milling about" M a, indeed, resembles one o f the five types o f people Z h a n g Dai describes as thronging to the lake, who neither rode nor went into a boat, but after having eaten and drunk their fill, they rushed about m their tcw dy dress and sought ch« crowd at the Celebration Temple or on the Broken Bridge, where k was chickest,. . . They looked at the moon, at those looking at che moon, and also at those noc iooking ac the moon, bur actually did not look at anything in particular*7 However, even when M a is removed from the crowd and elevated to the height o f a mouncain, from which to see the entire lake, the best he can do is

6. Whereas Yu Yude personalizes the religious yision o f Nanjing as the ritual center, Du Shenqing, who is introduced 2s the first full-fledged Uceraa character closely s$sociat«d wich Nanjing, illuminate} its cultural dimension, with his sense of sophistication, exquisite taste and lifestyle, and irrepressible enthusiasm for theater. ?, Zhang Dai, Tao'an 7. p* 58*

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to respond with two sentences from The Doctrine of the Mean (Zhongyong), a Confucian classic, which he has memorized for the civil service examinations. Soon he once again succumbs to the temptation o f food, which beguiles him throughout the tour. W u Jingzi did not endow M a with a poetic conscious­ ness adequate to turning the lake view into a worthy object or drawing it into a lyrical experience. W ithout such a consciousness to give it meaning and emotional import, Hangzhou becomes a soulless place; ic is abandoned to the indifferent crowd and disincegrates into inessentiality.8 Appealing to the sentiments and associations that had already been in­ scribed on the image o f Nanjing, W u Jingzi evoked a lyric site to which his literati readers could relate and in which his characters feel most at home. 丁 his sense o f home registers well in Chapter 33, where we follow D u Shao­

qing to his new home near che Qinhuai River: T h is was early in the thirU month, when the houses by the water were beginning to be filled and the sound o f a flute could often be heard. D u Shaoqing prepared, a feast, and invited four tables o f guests

By m idday all the guests had arrived, and every

window facing the water was opened. T h e visitors sat where they pleased or leaned over the balcony to watch the water, sipping tea as they chatted, leafing through rhe books on the cables, or sitting at ease enjoying themselves; each did exactly as he liked. (R. 453; S. 363-64)

Set free from lineage ties and sociopolitical obligations, D u’s house is 'open" to nature and thereby assures its residents and visitors a privileged space for genuine feeling and spontaneity. N o t all the guests are genuine and sponta­ neous, buc at D u’s party they are assimilated into a different frame o f mind and mood and temporarily transformed. Clearly, lyrical aesthetics goes be­ yond the realm o f art and poetry; it permeates all the various aspects o f life and gives it a sense o f totality: leisure, self-containment, and disinterested­ ness constitute a holistic “natural” state o f existence, in manifest contrast to the restless, career-oriented life pursued by most literati outside this space. N o t surprisingly, commoners far removed from the world o f the official elite emerge again as a convenient symbol for this redeeming lyric vision o f life. Chapter 29 o f Rwlm waishi encapsulates their mental state in its depiction o f a

8. It is noteworthy that toward the end of his essay Zhang Dai has to "evacuate'1the place in order to assert his lyric subjectivity. It is not until midnight, after all the people have dispersed, that "people like us (wohei) move our boats to the shore" to enjoy the scene alone. The lake becomes filled with meaning and poetic vision when it is vacant and open exclusively to ’’us."

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visit by D u Shenqing and his fellow literati friends to Rainflower Mount, a scenic spot in Nanjing: T h e y sat there till the sun began to sink in the west, and two dung-carriers set down their em pty pails on the hill to rest“Brother!*’ said one, clapping the other on the shoulder. “N o w that we’ve finished business for today, w hy not go to drink a jugful o f the water from Eternal Q uiet Fountain, then come back here to watch the su n set,’ “It’s true chac in a place like N anjing even cooks and porters demonstrate refined sensibilities for the scenery as found in the Six Dynasties!" Laughed D u Shenqing. (R. 402; S. 323)

T h e phrase liuchao yansbui qi (Six Dynasties' sensibility for the scenery) that D u employs here recalls the history o f Nanjing as the center o f the Six Dynasties' cultivation o f literary taste, aesthetic values, and lifestyle; it also captures the subtle influence o f this lyric culture by presenting it as a sensi­ bility or mood filling the air of the place_ an invisible essence that one breathes, embraces, and comes ro embody. So conceived, nature, just like history, does not exist in the realm beyond consciousness. It permeates the core of lyric subjectivity; the present perception o f nature contains echoes from the past, and lived experience becomes aesthetically saturated and shaped. A t the center o f these heartening passages about Nanjing is a poetic consciousness capable of reconciling men and nature, aesthetics and life, pres­ ent and past, and thereby incorporate them into a meaningful whole. In the episode about D u Shaoqings move to Nanjing, W u Jingzi made the retreat from the official world and the lineage system the precondition for aesthetic experience, but without further elaborating its social and ethical implications. In forming what might be called a synthetic unity o f experience, he presupposed the presence of a subjectively complete world. But how does this poetic consciousness sustain itself if it is so elusive, and so detached and even alienated from concrete sociopolitical relationships? I f its lyric vision must be manifested in a specific way o f life or state o f being, as W u sug­ gested, can it endure crises when its preferred mode o f existence itself is threatened? Moreover, how can W u claim its authenticity and totality in a prosaic world o f representation deeply caught in irony? Thesesare the issues at stake in late imperial fiction. A s Stephen Owen puts it, "T h e struggle between the need for the poetic and its impossibility lies at the heart o f Hon^iou meng, Six Accounts o f This Life Adrift (Fusheng liuji), Peach Blossom Fan (Taohua shan), arid The Palace o f Lasting Life (Changsheng

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d ia n )" Literati authors, according to him, are always haunted b y the ques­ tion: MH o w could an activity that epitomized elite culture be genuine in an age when so many manifestations o f elite culture came to be potentially re­ garded with irony?" T h is question looms even larger in vernacular fiction, in which the increasingly voracious social reality becomes irrepressible. "During the course o f the late imperial period/’ Owen argues, "the demarcation o f lyric poetry as a protected space remained constant, but it was increasingly represented as such; that is, it was contextualized." H e sees The Palace of Last­ ing Life, a chuanqi romance o f the early Qing (final version, 1688), as ' h e last great defense o f rhe poeric and the high st^le, attem pting to redeem chem from irony/' but "it is both a complex defense and a very uneasy one, deploy­ ing its divine machinery to create a literally separate space in which the po­ etic can exist without contextualizing ironies.’"9 O f the vernacular novels o f the eighteenth century, none is more commit­ ted to the tradition o f lyricism than Cao Xueqins Story o j the Stone, but the novel is equally disillusioned with rhac tradition: it is an aliegorical account o f "the predicament o f Chinese lyricism/* to use Xiao C h is words, "in the face o f literary, intellectual, and socio-economic transformations o f the late imperial period.MO n che one hand, the lyrical vision "supplies a mental ref­ uge and source o f cheer for che literati more enduring than any politic^ faith/*10 but on the other hand, in the absence o f new ethical and sociopoliti­ cal values, it is limited to the realm o f arc and fiction and will inevitably dete­ riorate in the face o f encroaching reality, which "is forever ready to engulf the poet again after the lyric moment is past.,,u This doomed struggle is epito­ mized in Jia Baoyu's willful neglect o f and ultimate confrontation with the blind forces o f society and time, which in the end reduce his privileged uto­ pian garden to ruins. W e do not have to wait until the second half o f The Story o f the Stone to see the gradual erosion o f ics lyrical ideal, for Jia Baoyu, according to W a iYee Li, "fulfills the wonted lyrical ideal o f the tradition— spontaneity, inten­ sity, self-containment一 while representing the authors unease with that ideal.”

In this account, the distance between the author and Jia Baoyu be­

comes the key co the novel's problematic relationship with the lyricism that

9. Owen, "Salvaging Poetry,** pp. 112,116. 10. Xiao Chi, The Chinese Garden as Lyric Enclave, pp. ix, 19. 11. See Yu-Kung Kao, "Lyric Vision in Chinese Narrative Tradition," p. 230. 12. Wai-Yee Li, Enchantment and Disenchantment, p. 202.

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runs through its narrative: although Jia is blissfully incapable o f irony, the author often renders him in such a w ay as to invite an ironic reading. D u rin g the M in g and Q in g periods, nor even poetry necessarily secured a privileged space for lyric experience- C om plaints about the failure o f p oetry grew in direct proportion to the increasing quantity o f poems produced. A n d the effort to "salvage poetry*' was accom panied by the sense o f irony that pervades poetry and com plicates its stylistic profile* Poetic irony and self-m ockery can be traced to the m id -T an g period, i f not earlier,13 bur they prevailed in late im periaJ times when rhe poets often represented their ow n absorption in l^ric experience as a deliberate and ludicrous com pulsion.14 T h e poetic vision no longer dom inated its objects or pretended to be an o b ­ je c t unto itself. Its alienation from the outside w orld constituted the precon­ dition for the existence o f poetry* T h e seventeenth and eighceenth centuries witnessed the extension o f ly ri­ cism into the realm o f vernacular narrative. T h a t did not, however, result in the form ation o f a hom ogeneous discourse in the narrative w orld; instead, by dram atizing the. tension between the lyric m ode o f expression and the p ro­ saic m ode o f representation, it often highlighted the transience and fragility o f poetic vision. In Rulin waishi and 'The Story of the Stone, lyricism is further contested, as W u Jin g zi and C a o X u e q in were caught between their doubts about the late M in g legacy o f girt及 (passion), rom antic im pulse, self­ enchantm ent, and dram atization and cheir m ounting discontent wirh the ri­ gidity and oppressiveness o f the sociopolitical institutions (including the civil

13, See Shang Wei, "Prisoner and Creator"; and Owen, "Salvaging Poetry," pp. 112-14,

396n24. 14*

(1749-83)

Owens reading of Huang Jingrcns "Offhand Compositions: New Years Eve* best illustrates the problems a poet faces: in the first poem, Huang conjured up a poetic moment of gazing at a single star alone on New Years Eve, and in the second poem, he re­ turned home only to find himself no less alienated there. Commenting on the lines "Silent I stand on the market bridge, recognized by none, / watching a single star like the moon such a long, long time," Owen writes: "On the one hand, there is no doubting the beauty of the po­ etic image/ whose very form embodies the enclosure of aesthetic attention, the focal point of light that excludes all else, a small thing becoming large by the very intensity of looking. At the same time the experience is medisited by pJacing the poet in a larger scene, by his seeing himself as he might look to others* Poetic experience is contcxtualized as such: the poem is not the poetic experience itself; rather, it is about poetic experience, stylized and on the very margin o f the ludicrous*" In the second poem, laughter becomes audible, when the poer states: "Year after year I waste this eve reciting poems, / by the lamp my children often secretly laugh at me" (Owen, "Salvaging Poetry广pp.

113-14),

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service exam inations and lineage system s).15 T h e y saw the need to redeem the lyric vision o f life ;buc they also realized that that vision could no longer be taken as a given. T h is is w here irony com es into play, for it ’’sees rhe lost, utopian hom e o f the idea that has becom e an ideal, and yet at the sam e time it understands that the ideal is subjectively and psychologically conditioned, because that is its on ly possible form o f existence.’^ T h u s, m ore often than nor, lyric vision prevails only m om entarily, co-existing w ith an uneasy con­ science and the certainty o f defeat. A n d this also contributes to ou r under­ standing o f the generic condition o f the vernacular novel. A t least in cHe case o f Rulin waishi and The Story of the Stone,.the authors' deliberations on the leg-:, acy o f lyricism reinforced their presentation o f the vernacular novel as a new critical m edium capable o f reflecting on its own choices and the values it has taken to heart* W u Jin g zi s account o f D u Shenq ing and D u Shaoqing reveals the range and depth o f his "reflection on the issue o f lyricism . T h e tw o D u s are fullfledged characters, w ith m ultiple dim ensions to their behavior, yet each in his ow n w ay personalizes the lyric vision o f life. In introducing D u S h 级 qing! W u Jin g zi drew on the texts and cultural figures o f the S ix D ynasties; he also invested him w ith che late M in O g fascination wich exquisite raste,r way■7. w X t w ard charm , the ability to create illusion, and w him sical self-indulgence. I f there is a poet in Rulin waishi w ho is w o rth y o f the name, it is D u Shenqing, w hose insight is best illum inated in an offhand com m ent on. the w orks o f a fellow poet, which is sharp enough to m ake the latter break into a cold sweat. H ow ever, in the banquet scene that follows, D u Shen q ing rejects poetry ^writing as too conventional for the occasion and allows the developm ent o f the banquet to be dictated By his ow n sense o f taste and personal w him . H is art is to im provise, buc its effect is alm ost magical and reduces the guests to a state o f total intoxication and enchantm ent: Du Shenqing ^anced at Bao Tingxi, M Let me try to entertain you/' offered Tingxi, laughing. H e fetched a flute from his room, removed che silk wrapper, and sat down

15- The literati appear in the scholar-beauty fiction {caizi jtaren) of the early Qing period accompanied by a great dose of poetic gesture and sentimentalism. These works deploy po­ etry as the means for the communication o f passion ..bfetween lovers and kindle the lyrical sparkle by drawing on the repository of standard poetic scenes, motifs, and rhetoric. However, in these works, passion and fantasy are subsumed in rhe existing social and ethical framework and essentially compromised, if not altogether contained, 16* See Lukich The Theory of the Novel, p. gz.

Rulin waishi and Literati Nostalgia for the Lyrical World

297

at the cable to play. A s the shrill music rang out, a little lad who had come to stand beside him clapped his hands and sang one o f the songs o f Li Bai. His voice was piercingly sweet and the melody utterly delightful. T h e three guests set down their cups to listen, leaving Du Shenqing drinking alone. They sac there till the moon came out, lending the peonies an unearthly loveliness and transfiguring a ^-eat guelder rose in the garden rill it appeared one mass of dazzling snow. (jR, 400; S, 320-21) T h e high point o f the party occurs w hen the fireworks, w hich are m eant to "sober up" the guests, turn out to be yet another form o f magic: " [T h e y } reeled back to their lodgings as i f in a dream ” (R. 4 0 1; S. 3 2 0 -2 1 ), T h e art o f magic, however, berrays its ow n w eakness: this m agic w orld belongs only to a m om ent and w ill soon be overtaken by the banality and trivialiry o f m undane routines, and the unearthly beauty o f the peonies and guelder rose in the enchanting m oonlight w ill dim inish, i f not vanish alto­ gether, wich the daylight. Instead o f projecting a broad vision and the pow er to conquer the alien w orld o f reality, D u Shenqing is content to confine his lyric vision to the private sphere and leisure hours, and his delicate, w h im si­ cal sensibility is in no w ay engaged in public life. Even D u s physical fragility seem s to acquire a m etaphorical dim ension; it constitutes part o f his deliber­ ate gesture to differentiate him self from the vulgar, but it also sym bolizes the flim siness o f the lyrical style he em bodies. A t his ow n banquet, D u an ­ nounces: "I decided to dispense w ith the usual dishes today, gentlem en. I have nothing to offer you bur cherries, bam boo shoots, and Jiangn an h er­ rings to go w ith your wine while we talk" (R . S . 320). O n another occasion w hen D u jo in s his friends on an outing, the latter, know ing that he does not like pork, order duck, fish, tripe, m inced meat, and wine, "A fte r tw o cups o f wine, th ey urged D u to eat, and he forced h im self to sw allow a m outhful o f duck, but brought it up again im m ediately' (R. 4 0 1; S. 322 ),T h e feast is nothing short o f an insult to the delicacy o f D u 's taste; indeed, even duck proves too strong for his stomach. T h e w orld Rulin waishi portrays is often crude and tasteless; ir is rife w ith ironies and absurdities and resists assimilacion into the hom ogeneous poetic vision that is im posed from w ithout. T o insist on this vision invites conflict, i f not defeat; to avoid this, the lyric subject has to either w ithdraw from the w orld o r create a transitory illusion o f its ow n self-sufficiency by raking itse lf as an object, a choice that verges on self-indulgence and narcissism . In the episode o f D u S h en q in gs visit to the R ain flow er M oun t:

298

EPILOGUE

They walked to the hill, and in the temples there saw the several stately shrines* Then they climbed to the top of the hill and gazed at the smoke from the thousands o f houses in the city, the Yangzi River like a white silk girdle, and the golden glitter o f the glazed pagoda. There was a pavilion at the top o f the hill, and there Du strolled in the sun for z long time, watching his own shadow, while Zhuge went to have a look at a small tablet in the distance, then came back and sat down, (R. 4 012; S. 322) In a bizarre twist, D u Shenqing, like M a Chunshang, does not see the en­ chanting vista in front o f his eyes; yer unlike M a, he is preoccupied w ith his ow n shadow* A t the center o f this scene is an unquenchable longing that em braces its projected desires as the only true reality. A fter the disappear­ ance o f its vision o f the organic, larger whole, lyricism degenerates into nar­ cissism ; operating on the much m ore lim ited scale o f the individual psyche, the narcissistic im pulse breaks ties w ith the outside w orldr retreating to the sanctuary o f the enclosed self. In a conversation w ith J i W eixiao in C h apter 30, D u elaborates on the subject o f

(passion or love), essential to late M in g sensibility:

“Weixiao!” he said and heaved a long sigh. “Since the ancients, no man has been able to see through the word qin客 广 M N o qing is greater than that between the sexes广replied Ji, “Yet you said just now you had no interest in women:’ "Is qing confined to that between men and women? N o, the girt及of friends is stronger! Just look at the story of the Lord E [who was devoted to a singer from the state of Y ae and covered him with an embroidered coverlet]. A nd in all history I consider Emperor A i o f the Han alone, who wanted to abdicate in favor of [his male lover] Dong Xian, shows the correct understanding of qing, Even Yao and Shun were no better than this in all their polite deferring to ochers. But what a pity chat no one is capable o f understanding this lofty qingl1' 家 禮 儀 節 . Preface dated 1474* 1618 cd. Quart Tan^ jfoi 全 康 詩 , Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, i960. Ran Kuisheng 阮 英 生 , Chaya kchua 茶 餘 客 話 * Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1959. wctishi" xuekan 馆 林 外 史 學 刊 . Ed. Zhongpio Rulin waishi xuehui 中 國 煤 林 外 史 學 會 -Hefei: Huangshan shushc, 1988.

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H o , Ping-tL Ladder 0/ Succas in-Im perial China: Aspects o f Social Mafcilityj 1368-1911* N e w Y ork: C olum bia University Press, 1962, ----------- . "T h e Salt M erchants o f Yang-chou: A Stu d y o f Commercial Capitalism in Eighteenth-Century China," H arvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 17 (1954): 130 -6 8 ; H sia, C . T , Tfoe Classic Chinese Novel: A Critical Introduction. N e w Y ork: C olum bia U niversity Press; 1968. — 1------+ A n essay on The Story o f the Stone (H on^ou Eastern Canons

In de Bary and Bloom ,

pp. 262-73,

—— * Forew ord to the paperback edition o f the English translation o f Rulin w ai­ shi by Y an g H sien-yi and Gladys Yang, T he ScfooWs, N ew Y o rk : G rosset and

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C haracter List

The entries are ordered syllable by syllable, ignoring word breaks^

A nhui tongzhi g a o

安徽通志稿

Chenghua 成 化 Cheng Jinge 程 京 萼

bagu八 股

C h e n g T in gzu o 程

baiguan 稗 官

Cheng Y i 程 頭

Baijiaxing

百家姓

baisK i 科 史 Baishijizhuan

廷 祚 (程 缔 莊 )

Chi Hengshan 遲 衡 山 ( 遲均) Chipozi z h u a n 疲 婆 子 傳

稗 史 集傳

baobian 褒 贬 Bao T in g x i 跑 廷 璽 biannianti 編 年 體

"Chongxiu Taibomiao beijiJ, 重■修泰

伯廟碑紅 "Chongxiu Taibomu b t i,f 重 修 暴 伯

基碑

bingchen 丙 辰

Chongzhen 崇 賴

boxue hongci 博 學 弘 辭

C h u c i楚 辭

B o y i伯 夷

chuanqi 傳 奇

Bu H e n g 卜亨

Chunshen jun 春 申 君 Chunxiang 春 香

Cai B o jie 蔡 伯 嗜 ( 蔡狀元)

c i fu 辭 試

caizi jia r e n 才 子 佳 人

Conghaozhai 從 好 齋

Cangjie 倉



cunbi zhi f a 村 卸 之 夫

Cao C a o 曹 操

"Cunxing bian” 存 性 編

Chang 昌

"Cunjoie bian” 存 學 編

^

changwei 嘗 謂 Chen M u o a n 陳 木 南

dalaoguan 大 老 官

Chen Zuiliang 陳 最 良

Darning huidian

cheng 誠

d am iu 大 谬

大明會典

Character List

340

Daojing 道 經

"Fuyun lou" 拂 雲 樓

Daqing huidian 大 清 會 典

fiiz a a 副 贊

Daqing ton ^ li 大 清 通 禮 D axue大 學

Gai Guan .蓋. 寬

"Dayumo H 大 為 謨

gangchang 綱 常

dazan 大 贊

* GaojQi 高 啓

"Dazhao" 大 招

Gc dai x t a o 歌 代 嘯

"Daike” 待 客

Ge H o n g 葛 洪

dai shengjcian liyan 代 聖 賢

Ge lian huaying 隔 簾 花 影

立言丨

Geng Dingxiang 耿 定 向 gongci 公 祠

Pai Zhen 戴 寒 Danfu







gohgguo ge







D ao道

gonglun 公 論

Daotong 道 统

gong ming fugui 功 名 富 貴

Daoxin 道 心

gongsheng 貢 生

D aoxue 道 學 Deng Zhifu

Gong Z i q i 宮 子 奇 G o u w u 句 吳 (勾 吳 )



部 .質



D iz ig u i 弟 子 規

G ugong 声 公

Ding Yanzhi 丁 言 志 Dongguo , 東 郭

Guwen Shangsbu 古 文 尚 書 11

Guan Yu 關 羽



Don^jua 1m 東 華 錄

Guan Zhong 管 仲

Du F u 杜 甫

guairen 乖 人

Du Li’niang ~杜 麗 娘 Du Mu ■共 叙 ;

Guangxian ji

Du Shaoqing 杜 少 ■卿 (杜 Du Shenqing 杜 慎 卿







Guangxu Quanjiao xian zhi 光 缚 全 振 縣 志

g u i規

Du Zhao „ 杜 结

G u o T ie b i 郭 鐵 筆

Duojiugong 多 九 公

Guo X ia o z i 郭 孝 子

Fan J i n 范 進

H a n lin 翰 林

fa n li 凡 例 _

Hangzhou 杭 州

Fan Ning 范 窜

h a o ju 豪 舉

Fan Shengm o 樊 聖 谟 ( 樊明徵) fangjin 方 巾

-Heguilou" 鶴 歸 樓

fengci 諷





Feng Cuizhong # 梓 中



haoxiao 好 笑 He X in y in 何 心 隱 Hongxian 紅 線

Fen^shen yanyi 封 神 演 我

hou後

Fen gsi 風 四

hou q i z i 後 七 子

fu 蛾

hua話

Fushcng liuji -浮 生 六 記

huaben話 本



Character List huashuo 話 説

341

Jin g h e 景 和

hui 回

JingKe 荆



Hui Dong 惠 棟 ikuijoie 徽 學

JingLanjiang 景 蘭 江 14。

“Jinling dianshi y\

Huizhou 徽 州

金 陵 典 祀 議

"Jingji z h i " 經 ‘ 志



Huangchao liqi tushi, 皇 朝 禮 器 圏 式

jingran 竟 然

Huanchcng 官 成

jingxue kaoguxue 經 學 考 古 學

Huang Jingren 黄 景 仁

Jing Yuan 荆 元

Huang Xiaotian 黄 小 田

jingzao 靜 坐

v

.

j i 跡



1

ju re n 舉 人 ju y e 舉 業

Jili季 歷

juan 卷

Ji T ia n y i 季 估 逸

ja n z i 君 子

Ji W cix ia o 季 葦 蕭

jish u an ti 紀 傳 想

JiX ia n ia n 季 返 年 Jiajing 嘉 靖

kanguan 看 官

Jia Y u c u n 賈 雨 村

K an gxi 康 熙

jiansheng 監 - 生

Kang You wei 康 有 爲

Jianwen 建 文

kaozheng 考 證

Jiangnan 江 南

kefxiao 可 笑

“Jiang Xingge chonghui zhcnzhu

kexue de gudian xucpai 科 學 的

sh a iT 蔣 興 哥 重 會



古 典 學 派

,

.

kenqie 懇 切 “

珍 硃 衫

jiangxue 講 學

Kuang C h ao ren 匡 」 超 人

Jiang Z i y a 姜 子 牙

Kuangda 匡 大

Jiaonii ^ g u i 敎 女 遺 規 jiaoshou 敎 授

Lang?cian

jie

la o ^ e 老 资

wp

Jiexiao ci 節 孝 祠







li (profit) 利

Ji C i f u 金 次 福

li (ritual) 禮

Jin D o n g ya 金 東 崖

Li Bai .

Jin H e 备 和 《

Li G u an gd i 李 光 地

Jinling 金 陵

Li Guinian 李 龜 年

"Jinlingjingwu tu shi__ 金 陵 景 物 ;

圈詩



Li Panlong 李 攀 龍 Xisao " 離 骚

jinshi 進 士

li shi cr qiuzhu y c 禮 失 而 求 諸 野

jinshi qi 進 士 氣

lishu (ritual book) 禮 書

jinxiang ben _巾 箱 . 本

lis h u 隸 書

Jin Zhao^an 金 兆 __燕

Liwcn shouchao 缉 文 手 妙

jing 敬

lix u e 理 學

34^

Character List

li you jing, yi )^ou quan 禮 有 ,經 , 亦有 ‘ % , li yne bing nong 禮 ' 樂 兵 農 一 liyuan zhi banyan_i^ ISJl之 搬演 1 lizan 禮 贊 Liao Ping 参 平

Nie Zheng 巷 政 N in g h e 寧 和 Niu B u y i 牛 布 衣 r Niu P u lan g 牛 浦 郎 Nii L u n y u 女 論 語



Xiaojing 女 孝 經

, ,丨

liezhuan 列 傳

*■

Pan san 潘 三

Linfu 麟 紱

-

Pan SW\ e n 潘 告 恩 N

Liu Bei 劉 備

i

Liuchao yanshui qi 六 朝 煙

Pan Zengwci 潘 曾 碑

7jc .氣

Liujinxian 劉 進 賢 liuyi 六 藝 L iu Y u x i 劉



( _ 季 玉 ) Pan Z u p n 潘 祖 择

'

P ip a ji琵





'

隹記

Pinhua baojian

Liu Z h u 劉 著



1 花





Pinniang 聘 娘

Longs an 龍 三

.
222 Vtngshtn yanyi (The investiture of the

$ods)f 163

Dong Yue, see Xtyou bu

Fengsi,

Donglu gukuang sheng, see Zui xing

Filial Guo, 48,53-59,72-83 passim

)hi Du Mu, 290

Fineman, Joel, 137^4 Fingarette, Herbert, 63,64

-

In d tx Floweri in the Mirror, seeJtn^ua yuan Foucault, Michel, zig, 220 Frye, Northrop, 279 Fu Shij^i, 176^7

349

dential studies; Official history; Unofficial history History o f the Bookworm, T h t, see Yinshi History o f the M ing, The, see Mingshi

Gai Kuan, 106,114,119

Ho, Ping-ti, io2mo

G20 Ming* Pipa ji (The luxe),144

Hong Mai, i66m8

Geertz, Clifford, 1 2 ,13

Hong Sheng, 3«4;Changshcng dian

Gc lian huaying,\76n7

Geng Dingjciang, no Gramsci, Antonio, 191^23,193^29 Guan Yu, 21

211

Guangxu Quanjiao xian zht (The gazet^

(The palace of the eternal life), 150-51,294 Hon^lou meng (The story of the

stone), 1-3,203,204^ 2S3,28 十 294, 296

teer of Quanjiao compiled in the

Hongxian (Red Thread)# 225^7

Guangxu reign), 309

H ou qizi (The later seven masters),

G uwcn Shangshu (The old text Docu­

ments), 7«io, 130 G u zbangjut chtn,

149汜 4 Hsia, C. T., 9,10,24, 85, n $r 145,159, i%6,187

Guo Tiebi (Iron pen Guo), 122^165

Hsia, T, A., i76ny

Guo Xiaozijr see Filial Guo?

Hu Shi, ionij,

48«35, 51,179m,

iSof 182, 309 Han Ying, H m sht waizhuan (Han ,

Huang Aiping, 124ml

Yings illustrations of the didactic

Huang Jingren, 295^14

application of the Boofe o f Odes),

Huang Kan, 241^25

247-49

Huang Lin, i8in6

" Hanan, Patrick^ 8 ,9 , 176*17, i8zn yt 185,

Huangs Martin, 72«i3^

Hanfeizijiaozhu, 174^3, 212^16

Huang, Ray, 110

tfHan Qinhu huaben/' i74«3

Huang Xiaotian, 25,32, 92^3, 98,

He Manzi, 16 6 ,167,312ms He Qifang, ioni6

314723 Huang Zongxi, 168^21

He Xinyin, 109

Huangchao liqi tushit 32^9

He Zehan, 92^4, 234^14^16, 239^119,

H uanxi yuanjia (Antagonists in love),

i « i Hegel, Robert, 176^7

Hui Dong, 130

History: and orthodox Confucian

Humble W ords o f an Old Rustic, ste Y ts o u

199

37 3

norms, 16,17,127-29; and historical

282^13,299/117

223«4

puyan

judgment, 162; historical biography,

Hummel, Arthur, 31^15

128,129,133-46 passim, 157,158; his­

Hunc, Lynn, 64 則2 Huters, Theodore, 142

torical chronology, 128, See also Evi­

z6if

350

In d ex

Iconoclasts, 4 -8 passim, 18-19

Langer, Susannc K,, 4 如 25

Iron-armed Zhang, 149^115,216-20,255

Langxian, 8^12

Idcma, WUt, 174m

Lu itt Ritual Li Bai, 26yn6

Jameson; Fredric, i8$«i7

Li Baichuan, sec Luyt xxanzong

Ji XiaJnian, io6f 114

Li Gong, 11-13, 25, 26, 36, 37* 40^22,

Jia Yucun, 204 Jia liy ijic , 执

1

34, 35

wJiang Xingge chonghui zhenzhu shan1* (The pearl-sewn shirt), 19 7

4 4 - 4 9 , 57 , 58/ 9 帥

Li Guangdi, 62^7 Li Guinian, 151 Li Hanqiu, imr 44»29, 3i3wiOtt2if

Jili, 2 4 1 , 2 4 4 - 5 0 , 2 5 2 Jin He, 1 6 5 ,2 3 7 0 1 4 ,3 0 8 - 1 0

Li Luyuan,允e ^i/w dtng

Jin Liangming, 259^12

Li Panlong, 149^14

Jinling, see Nanjing

Li Ruzhen, set Jin^jua yuan

“Jinling jingwu tu shi," 4 9 ^ 3 8 ,5 0

Li, Wai-Yee, 294

J in Pfw^Mei cihua, S, 1 7 5 ,1 8 1 ,1 8 5 ,1 9 8

Li Yu, 2^4, 8rti2,176,184,199-200, 221*

Jin Shengcan, 1 7 5 ,1 8 0 ,1 8 3

n Li Zehou, 288^3

Jin Zhaoyan, 310 ; “Gushi wei Xin'an liefu Wangshi zuo," 9 2 - 9 4

Li Zhi, 54«if 109, no, 111

Jing Laajiang, 1 4 2 -4 3

Li Zhongming, 309ns, 315^26

Jing Yuan, 1 0 6 - 8

Liang Qichao, 6ng

Jin ^ ju a y u a n (Flowers in the mirror),

Liao Ping, 130

2»2,23J—36,251-52,282-83 Jizhuantit see "Historical biography un­ der History J iu T a n g $hu (The old history of the

Tang), 123«9

Lin, Shuen-fu, 23 m; 2 4 ,179m, 313^19 LmgMcngchu, 199 Literati novel: ilulm waishi as,1-4, 21-22, 283-84,296; of the eighteenth ccn-* tury, 1-4; thematic paradox of> 7-11;

Johnson, David, 191^23

history of ideas and study of, n-13;

JWnte_y to the West, T h e, sec Xiyou j i

as unofficial history, 17-18, zor m -

Kang Youwei, 13 0 ,1 3 1

of storytelling in, 20,202-4; and in­

32 passim; diminishing the rhetoric Kao, Yu-kung, 288113, 2 9 4 m l

tellectual discourse, 282; and irony,

Kitamura Yoshikazu, 240^124

283, and self reflection, 283-84,296-

Ko, Dorothy, 193^128 Kong Fanli, ^67^6 Kong Shangrcn, see Taohua

Sec also individual works by title Lixuc (Learning of Principles), see NeoConfucianism

Krai, Oldfich, 180^13

Liji (The record of ritual), 287

Kuang Chaoren, 2 0 , 7 7 , 13 3 * 4 5 passim

"Lisao/142

Kuangda, 1 3 7 - 3 8

Liu Baonan, Lunyu zhengytt 74^15,241,

244~ 46i 249

In d ex Liu Bei, 207-13 passim Liu T s x m -y z n , 309^15

351

Mu4an tin^ (The peony pavilion), 223

Liu Wtnqi, a46n3in34#2501139 Liu Xiaolian> 176^7

Nanjing: as a center of ritual studies, 31;

Liu Yuxi, 290

ritual practice in, 49-51; versus Bei­

L ia y ir see Six Arts, The

jing, 72-73 ;Taibo worship in, 74^

Longsan, 188-91,201,255,256

234; as home, 2S9,292,300; cultural

Lou brothers, 205-20 passim, 224

memory of, 290; versus Hangzhou,

Lujianzeng, 317 Lu Xiangshan, 45' 46 Lu Xun, 3«s, 312ms Lii Sicheng, 28^4

291*93; as a lyric site, 292 Narrative pcrspeccivism, 20,182, 265, 275,302 Neo-Confudanism: modem scholar­

Lu Xiong, see N u xian waishL

ship on evidential studies, ritualism,

Lukacs, Georg, 147, 296

and, 4 -7; modern scholarship on

Lu mudan (Green Peony), 314

the literati novel and, 8^9; Yan

"Lushan Yuangong hua," 174^3

Yuans criricism of, 11-12,39-43 ;

Luyc xianzong (Tracks of an immortal

evidential studies and, 16-17/130-31;

on the green field), 2,203

Cheng Tingzuo’s criticism of Zhu

Luo Guanzhong, see Sanguoyanyi

Xi and Lu Xiangshan, 45-46; refer­

Lyricism: and irony, 22,293-95; and

ence to and comments on Zhu X i

ritualism, 22,288; and nostalgia, 148,

in R«/in waishi, 47, 47^34,61-62;

285,303; and aesthetic values, 288;

Kangxi emperors remarks ofNeo-

and ethics and way of life, 288,293;

Confucians, 62^17; Jin Zhaoyans

And the vernacular novel, 288-89,

poem abour the decline of, 94; and

295-96; lyric repertoire and cultural

lineage system, 96^7; promotion o f»

memory, 290; and magic, 297; and

female chastity, 96^7; a formula of,

self-indulgence and narcissism, 297-

10S; the Wang Yangming school of;

99; and perspcctivism, 301,302; 2n d

109; in the high Qing period, 127. See

the rhetoric of negation> 301,302;

also Cheng Yi; Li Guangdi;Lu

solitude and fragmentation oflyric

Xiangshan; Wang Yangmirig;

experience, 302,303

Xiong Cilii; Zhou Dunyi; Zhu X i Niu Buyi, 152-54

Ma Chunshang (Ma Er), 134-35,1394 0 , 144»149^^5, tsoni 7, 15^, 154, ^ 6 ,

317 319

291-9^ , Mao Qilingr 40^22 Meng Xingren and Meng Fanjiing,

Niu Pulang, 152-54,165 Niu Xiu» Sinzi Nuxian waishi (The unofficial history of the female immortal), 2, in^f 18,126, 127

312ms Mingshi (The history of the Mirig), iSt 54m,123-27

Official history, 17—18,20, 87-88, 98100,121-32 passim, 138,145,148, Sec

Ind hc

352

also History; tory

Unofficial his­

Qbdn^ang edition commentator, 122 ; 162-65

Ogawa Tamaki, 164 OgawavYoichi, 192^27

Qu Gongsun, 14 1- 4 1 Qu Yuan, 302, See also Cbuci

Oki Yashushi, 193^28 Owen, Stephen,

"Qiuranke zhuan,rt 217ns

267^7,2gon5,

Quan Wuyong, 152,162-63, 213-16,218

立93, 294* 2 9 5 « n i3 -i4

Rawskp Evelyn, 38

Pan Shi’en—309, 313 Pan Zengwci, 310^12 Pan Zuyin, 309^6 Pansin^ 143,144

Realism, io. See also Engels, Frederick Rhetoric of negation, 264, 265,301, 302 Ritual: dualistic, narrative ritual, 14-20

Peach Elossom Fan, The, s e t T^ohua sban

passim, 58-72, 94"95t 丨 丨 3, H7_20, 127-29, ascetic ritual, 14-20 passim,

Peony Pavilion^ The ,see M udan ting

53-5& 7 2 -7 8 ,

Pcrspccrivism, fee Narrative^perspective

156-57,229,280; eighteenth-

ism Pfcronwis, 64, 65, 67

94- 97,112二20 产wim,

century studies of, 30, 31; and dis­ course, 36-43; definition of, 40;

Pinghua, \7 ^ m m

practice of— in Nanjing, 49; Cheng

{A^precious mirror for judging flowers), 163 Plaks* Andrew, 8 , 12in6f 174^14,180,182,

Tingzuos dispute with Fan

Pinhua baojian

1987138 t Plum in the Golden Vasct se t J in Ping Mei cihua

Shengmo on mourning rituds,斗9, 276; and theatrical performance, 269-77 passim. See also Ritualism; Yan Yuan Ritualism: modern scholarship on evi­ dential studies, Nco-Coafuciariism,

Puritanical moralist, 8,9,19 t

and, 6 -7,11-12; and evidential stud-

Qian Daxin, 31

iest 16-17,129-31, See also ^ascetic

Qianjingfang, 127ms

ritual" under Ricual

Qiaa Xuintong, iom$

Ritual manual, sccXtzhu

Qian Zhongshu, 6o»4

Roddy, Stephen John, 3^5,9,23m,

Qianzi wen (The thousand-character classic), 192,223 Qiao Sang and Song Hong, 19M26,

93 3 94«32

I « ^I Qiao Zhizhong, 124^11,124^13 j^ifw dcng (Warning light zt the cross— roads), i t 2»4, 282 Qia Huitian, jr Qjngye zhong (Alarm bell on a still night), 111-12

^ x n r 7> 44 竹29, 4 4 巧 i, 4 5 , 10 9 m l ,

i22n6f

127

Rolstori; David, 23m, iiim , i2zn6, n^nzz, 163^10, i8o«2rt4,185^ 17, 187, 198-99,

200n«45-46

Romance of the 丁brcc Kingdoms, sec Sanguoyanyi Ropp, Paul S ” 44«^9 Ruan Kuisheng, 136113 "Rulin liezhuan广 124-25

In d ex Hulirt waishi: English translarion of, ini;the circulation of, 2 , 4,238-40,310; modern interpretations of, 8-11; self-qucsrioning in, 19-22,

117,

2S0-84,307; diminishing of the au­

353

Sfci dian tou (The rocks nod their heads), 54,56^2 Sfciji (Records of the grand historian), 74m 6,121-23,128^21,206 ;207, ii%r

37 13

thoritative narrator in, 21,70-71,

224, ^ ^ , 245-46 Sfoixtte, stt Solid learning

185-204 fassim; five parts of, 26; the

SbuiTm houzhuan ( A sequel to the Water

ending o£ 2firt9,162-69,308—15 pas­ sim; authorship of, 51,164,307-19 ; composition date of, 124, vju 172; 312-13; sources of, 136-37, 316-19;

Mar^n), lytny, 200^46 Sfcuifcu zbuan (Water margin), 2n^f 8, 79, 14 7.159« 164-66,175, iSo, 181, 200^46* 225«7, 317

the structure of, 137,164-65,179-85;

SKuqi, 224

editions of, 307*15; traditional

Siku quanshu zongmu, 123^ 9 -10

commentary on, 313-14,314^23, See,

Sima Qian, see Shiji

also individual characters, editionSj and f

Six A r ts , 40,114

commentators by name,

Smith, Joanna Handlin, 43^28 Solid learning, 45, 48

Sakai Tadao, 97^8

Song Lian, I25ni5,168^21

Sanguozhi houzhuan ( A sequel to

Story of the Stone, The, see Hort^ou mtng

The Romance o f Three Kingdoms),

Su Shi, 136, 267^6

176^7 Sa n pio zh i iongsu yanyi ( A popular expli­

cation of The History o f the Three

Suishu (The history of the Sui dynasty)* 123^9

Kingdoms), I74 «i

San— jwnyi (The romance of the Three Kingdoms), 2«3,8 ,194,207-

,37

Tambiah, Stanley Jeyaraja, 41m s Tan Fcngliang, 3i2«i6, 312^18^ 316^29,

13 Satire, 279, 280

3 7 30

Schneider, Lawrence, 7«io

i « . 318 Tang Ao, 235,251-52

Scholar-beauty fiction, 183ns,

Tang Xianzu, sec Mudan ting Tang Yixiu, 192^24

296^115 Scfjolan, Th e, see

waishi

Schwartz, Benjamin, 63,6 4

T ang Zhentai, 48,317-19 Tang Zou, see Tang Zhent^i

Shang Wei, 198^39,295^113

Tao Yuanming;267

Shangyuan xian zhi (The gazetteer of

Tao Zongyi, 208^4

Shanghai an county), 50,234 Shahhaijing, 235

Shen Qiongzhi, 225^17, 314 Sbi, see History Shi Jing, 30

Taohua shan (The peach blossom fan), 24^4 Tracks of an Immortal on ffoc Green FicW, see Luyt xianzong Tu Shen, see Yimhi

354

In d ex

T a , Wei-nung, 41,

^

Weber; Max, 5

Turner, Victor, 75

Wen Suchen, 283



Wengongjialt (Wengongs family ritual),

Unofficial history (informal history,

32,37^13/42

outer or other history), 17,18,121-31, 138, i

73r 224

二一

、’内

^

Unofficial History oj the Female Immortal^ The, see Nuxian waishi

- --

White, Haydenf 161"

^

Widmer( Ellen^ i76n?P200^246 Williams, Raymond, 191^123 Wong, Timothy, 164,166,187 ;279^2, 308m

f van der Loon, P, i46nfo

Woxian caotang edition and commen-

Waishi, see Unofficial history

* m m , I24«i2,163,164, 308, 311-15

tzry of Rulin waishi,

Wan Sitong, 40«22r "

W u Chengen, see X iyo u ji

Wang btotKers, 59,60,66-68,70 Wang Chong, 247^35, 249 消

94,9$,

( 条

Wang, David Dcr-wei, 128/120,195^35,

9««37

i Wang De, sec Wang brothers-

W u Guodui, 441130 W u Hun^i22W5

_ "

W u Jingzi: family connections with Li Gong, 44; in Nanjing, 49-51; and

“ .

Wang Gen, 109

civil service examinations, 171; 258, r 259, 312; designing mourning rituals,

Wang Hui (character in novel)/54-59 paisim, 7 7 ,149«i5, I49-50«i6

276; family background, 286, See also Du Shaoqing; Rutin waishi

Wang Hui (modern scholar), 132^26

W u Lang, 44 n 3^f 136^3, 238

Wang Jia, 157^2

W u Linqi, 286m *

Wang Mingsheng, 31

W u Peiyuan, 50, Jsm y, 23 斗,236-39,

Wang Mian, 108,109,125,126,147-48, 158-60, i68«2i, 302, 303

j

Wang Qioiigliug, yn% 127ms

317-19 W u Shu, 53, 62/16,158,168, 225«7 W u X i ;Taibo MeiJi zhi (The gazetteer

Wang Ren, see Wang brothers

ofTaibo Meili), 75^17,233, 234,

Wang Shizhen (1526-90), 149^14

235^7,236,240^22,276-77

Wang Shizhen (1634-1711), 2n4,

W u, Yenna/i84«n

Wang Tai, 106

W u Zuxiang, 441129

j

Wang Yangmingr 41,42* 96^7;109 Wang Youzeng, 239ms, 308m

Xiajingqu, see Yesou puyan

Wang Yuan, 54 ;55, $6m

XianzHai Laoren (The old man of the

WangYuhui, 2 7 ,3 5 , 斗8,85-105 passim, 113 Warning Light at the Crossroads, see Qilu dzng

leisure studio), 121-24, U 1,311-12 Xiao Chi, 294 Xiao Yunxian (Xiao Cai), 48,78, 79> 99* ioof 168

Water Margin’, The, see Shuihu zhum

X iezi (prologue), 180

Watson, James L ” 37,38

Xihu erji, 54m

In d ex Xihuj\ahuar 18斗m今 Xingshx yinyuan zhuan (The account of

marriage to awaken the world), 112 Xingyuan Tuishi, 314 X inxu e (Learning of Mind), see Neo-

Coafucianism

355

Yang Kai, 318 Yang Lien-sheng, 146W10 Yang Yuhuan, 150-51 Yang Zhizhong, i26»i7,206-16 passim, 218 Yanlan xiao^u, iz^niz7 313

Xiong Cilu;62 口7

Yanpu zaji, 136

Xiyou hu (A supplement to The Journey

Yanzi chunqiu (Master Yans Spring and

to the W est), 176^17, 183^9,20 0 ^ 46 ,

221

Autumn Annuals), 206m Ye Mingfeng, 308^2

Xiyou j i (The journey to the west), 8

Yeshif see Unofficial history

Xizhou Sheng, sec Xingshi yinyuan

Yesou puyan (Humble words of an old rustic), 2, 3 ,127m l 203, 282,

zhuan

X u Qianxue, 135-37

283

Xu Wei, 223

Yi/i (Etiquette and ritual), 30,57

X u Yunlin, 310-11

Yinshi (The history of the bookworm),

Xue Shiyu (Xue Weinong), 309

8

Xun Mei, $ , 59, Th 149^16,317-18 Xushu (sequels), 175 ,176 , 【 83,221, Set also individual works by £if/e X u n z ir 2 4 ,130 ,157. 274

2,203 Yizhu (ritual manual), 21, 27, 30-35,37, 57> 86,88-go> ng> i8of 22% 275 Yu, Anthony 128^20,161 Yu brothers, 48,84-86,101-4 Yu Huaxuan, 101,102

Yan Dawei (Yan Gongsheng), 143

Yu Xiaorong, 315W27

Yan Dayu (Yan Jiansheng), 59 ,67-70,

Yu Yingshi, 7mo

136 Yan Ruoju, ymo, 130-31

Yu Youda, see Yu brothers

Yan Yuan: criticism of Heo^ Confucianism, 11,39-43; influence on Ru/in waishi, 25, 26, 48, $1-52, 5758; ritualized life and ritual theory, 36-43, 7 6 ,114; in Yan Xizhai xiannictnpu (Tbe chromcle of Yan Yuans life), 36,37, 42; Liwtn

Yu Yude, 50, 53, 54. 76, Th 86*87, 99, 109^ 157-58, ^39^19, 260-65 pasiim, 31V19 Yu Zhong (Zongyong), 237, 247-49,

2 39

$ok Yuan Mei, 30, 49^138,237^15 Yuanyang zhcn (The mandarin duck needle), 18 斗mi

shouchao by, 37^13; dispute with Li

Yue Hengjun, 727113,140^15

Gong on tejrtual studies, 40H2Z;

Yue Shifii, 206, 207, 209, 211

spiritual turning point, 42; influence on Cheng Tingzuo, 44-52; on lin­

Zhan Ying, 267^16

eage and female chastity, g6ny; on

Zhang Dai, 291,2Q2n8

ritual and performance, 272-73, See

Zhang Guofeng, 44^129

also Li Gong; Ritual; Ritualism

Zhang Peiheng, 51)141,315,316,318

In d ex

356

Zhang Wenhu, 62,163-65,190, nsny,

3i4«23

Zhou Dunyi, 141 Zhou Ji, see Xihu crj'h

J

Zhang Xiumin, \93na8

Zhou Jin, 1801

Zhang Xuecheng, 132^26

Zhou Li (Rites of the Zhou), 167,

Zhang ZHigong, 192^126

i68nn

Zhang Zhuo, Sinzt

Zhu Da, 2^4

Zhang ZHupo, :8m6

Zhu Xi, n * 42, 45,

Zhao Jingshen, 164 Zhao Yi, 136 Zhen Shiyin, 204 Zheng Jingruo, 245^27 Zheng Xuan, 2 4 1,24 4 ,2 45,247, 250^39 Zhen^shi, see Official history Zhcngicng (legitimate line of dynastic succession), 62

46, 94, 96 nyt 192m s

61-62 Sec also Neo-Confucianism; Wtngong jia li

Zhu Yizun, 125^15 Zhuang Cunyu, 130

ZHugc Liang, 207-13 passim Zito, Angela, 3in4

ZKi^an Zhai (Red inkstone studio),

Zong Chen, 149^114

163 Zhong^ongr see Yu Zhong

Z«i xing shi, 8rti2f 184^13

292

5 53 54,71

Zhuang Shioguang, 47* 。, , 73,259-63 passim, 266-69,319

Zhiguai (records of the strange), 82,317

Zhongyong (The doctrine of the mean),



comments on, in Rulin waishi, 47034,

Zuozhuan (Zuo commentary), 121^13, 246,250^139

Harvard-Yenching Institute Monograph Series (titles now in print) ii.

Hart Sht W at Chuan: H an

Illustrations o f the Didactic Application o f the

Classic o f Songs, translated and annotated by James Robert Hightower

21.

The Chinese Short Story: Studies in Dating, Authorship and Composition, by

Patrick Hanan 22* Sartos o j Flying Dragons: A Critical Reading, b y Peter H, Lee 24. Population, Dijeajc, and Land in Early Ja p an , 64^-900, by William Wayne Farris 25. 26.

Sanba and the Comte Tradition in Edo Fiction, by Robert W , Lcutner

Wdsbiw^Silfe; The Life and Selected Poetry o f W ei Chuang (834^910), by Robin D. S. Yates

27* Neifiofiti! Polity and Local Power: T he Transjormation o f Late Imperial China, by Min Tu-ki

23.

T a n g Transformation Texts: A Sfad[y o j the Buddhist Contribution to the Rise o f Vernacular Fiction and Drama in China t by Victor H* Mair

29,

Mongolian Rule in China: Local Administration in the Yuan Dynasty, b y

Elizabeth Enicott-W cst 30, Rwdi/J炉 in Chinese Literary Thought, b y Stephen Owen 31,

Ktm tm htring Paradise; Nativism and Nostalgia in Ei^teenth-^entury Ja p a n t by

Peter Nosco 32,

Taxing H eavens Storehouse: Hor$e$t Bureaucrats, and the Destruction o j the Sichuan Tea Industry, 1 0 7 4 - 12 2 ^ b y Paul】. Smith

33,

Escapcjrom the Wasteland :Komanticism and Rcalwrrt in the Fiction o f M ishim a Yukio and Oc Kenzaburo, by Susan Jolliffe Napier

34* Inside a Service Trade: Studies in Contemporary Chinese Prose, b y Rudolf G ‘ Wagner 35.

The W illow in Autum n: Ryutci Tanchikot 1783-1842, by Andrew Lawrence Markus

36.

The Conjucian Transformation o f Korea: A Study o f Society and Ideology, by

Martina DeucWcr 37. 38.

T he K orean Singer o f Talcs, b y Marshall R, Pihl Prayingjor Power: Buddhism and the Formation o f Gentry Society in Latc-M ing China, b y Timothy Brook

39.

W ord, Image, and D eed in the Life o f Su Shit by Ronald C. Egan

40. The Chinese Virago: A Literary Theme, by Ydnna W u

H arvard-Y enching Institute Monograph Series 41. 42,

Scudics in ibt Comic Spirit in Modcrnjapantsc Fiction, b y jo d IC C ohn Wind Agaimt the Mountain: The Crisis of Politics and Culture in Thirtccnth-Century China, by Richard L* Davis

T

43* Powerful Relations: Kimhip, Status, and the State in Sung China (9601279), by Beverly Bossier 44* Limited Views: Essays on Ideas and Letters, by Qian Zhongshu; sdea:e(d and translated by Ronald Egan 45.

Sw^ar and Society in China: Peasants, Technology, and the World Market, by

Suchcta Mazumdar 46. Chinese History: A M anual by Endymion Wilkinson 47* Studies in Chinese Poctrj, by J ames R- Highcov/cr and Florence CKia-Ying YcK 48, Crazy J i: Chinese Religion and Popular Literature, by Meir Shahar 49* Prtcious Volumes: An Introduction to Chinese Sectarian Scripturtsjrcm tht Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, by Daniel L, Ovcrmycr

50, Poetry and Painting in Song China: The Sukle Art o j Dissent, by Alfreda Murck 51,

Evil and/or/as the Good: Omniccntrism, Intersubjectivity, and Value Paradox in Tiantai Buddhist Thou^t, by Brook Ziporyn

52,

Chinese History: A Manual, Revised and Enlargrd Edition, by Endymion Wilkinson

53,

Articulated Ladies Gender and the Male Community in Early Chinese Texts, by

Paul Rouzer 55,

Allegories oj Desire: Esoteric Literary Commentaries oj Medieval Japan, b y Susan

Blakeley Klein 56* Printingfor Profit: The Commercial Publishers o f ]ianyangr Fujian (uth-iyih Centuries), by Lucille Chia

57,

To Become a God: Cosmology, Sacrifice, and Sclj-Divinization in Early China, by

Michael J. Puett 58*

Writing and Materiality in China: Essays in Honor of Patrick Hananwedited by

Judith T, Zeitlin and Lydia H. Liu 59* Rulin waishi and Cultural Transformation in Late Imperial China, by Shang Wei